Detecting missing messages from clinical environment

ABSTRACT

Various techniques for facilitating communication with and across a clinical environment and a cloud environment are described. For example, a method for detecting missing messages from a clinical environment is described. A data flow manager (DFM) in the cloud environment may check the message ID of each message received from a connectivity adapter in the clinical environment. If the DFM detects a skip in the message IDs, the DFM may request the missing messages from the connectivity adapter.

INCORPORATION BY REFERENCE TO ANY PRIORITY APPLICATIONS

This application is a continuation of International Application No.PCT/US19/41706, filed Jul. 12, 2019 and titled “SYSTEMS AND METHODS FORFACILITATING CLINICAL MESSAGING IN A NETWORK ENVIRONMENT,” which claimspriority to U.S. Provisional Application No. 62/699,499, filed on Jul.17, 2018 and titled “SYSTEMS AND METHODS FOR FACILITATING CLINICALMESSAGING IN A NETWORK ENVIRONMENT.” Any and all applications for whicha foreign or domestic priority claim is identified in the ApplicationData Sheet as filed with the present application are hereby incorporatedherein by reference in their entirety under 37 CFR 1.57.

TECHNICAL FIELD

This disclosure relates to the field of clinical messaging, andparticularly to techniques for facilitating clinical messaging withinand across various network environments.

BACKGROUND

Modern medical care often involves the use of medical infusion pumps todeliver fluids and/or fluid medicine to patients. Infusion pumps permitthe controlled delivery of fluids to a patient and provide flexible yetcontrolled delivery schedules. Infusion pumps can communicate with aserver configured to manage the infusion statuses of the individualinfusion pumps.

SUMMARY

Various techniques for facilitating communication with and across aclinical environment and a cloud environment are described herein. Thesetechniques may include converting pump messages into standardizeddataset messages (also referred to herein simply as “messages”), mergingthe messages into a cache, transmitting the messages to a cloud server,detecting network outages, clearing an outbound queue, detecting missingmessages, authenticating a connectivity adapter for cloud access,providing a segmented data structure, among others. These and otherembodiments are described in greater detail below with reference toFIGS. 1-13. Although many of the examples are described in the contextof a hospital environment including infusion pumps, the techniquesdescribed herein can be applied to any network environment includingother medical devices (e.g., patient care monitors configured to displayblood pressure, heart rate, blood oxygenation, and the like), ornon-medical devices, or any combination thereof.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

The embodiments described herein are illustrated by way of example, andnot by way of limitation, in the figures of the accompanying drawings inwhich like references indicate similar elements.

FIG. 1 is a block diagram of an example clinical environment and anexample cloud environment in accordance with aspects of the presentdisclosure.

FIG. 2 is a block diagram illustrating components of a clinicalenvironment in accordance with aspects of the present disclosure.

FIG. 3 is a schematic diagram illustrating components of an infusionpump and a connectivity adapter of a clinical environment in accordancewith aspects of the present disclosure.

FIG. 4 is a block diagram illustrating components of a cloud environmentin accordance with aspects of the present disclosure.

FIG. 5 is a schematic diagram illustrating components of a data flowmanager of a cloud environment in accordance with aspects of the presentdisclosure.

FIG. 6 is a flow diagram illustrating an example method for clearing anoutbound queue in accordance with aspects of the present disclosure.

FIG. 7 is a flow diagram illustrating an example method for detectingmissing messages in accordance with aspects of the present disclosure.

FIG. 8 is a flow diagram illustrating an example method for mergingmessages into a cache in accordance with aspects of the presentdisclosure.

FIG. 9 is a flow diagram illustrating an example method for converting apump message to a standardized dataset message in accordance withaspects of the present disclosure.

FIG. 10 is a schematic diagram illustrating an example method forauthenticating a connectivity adapter using an authentication proxy inaccordance with aspects of this disclosure.

FIG. 11 is a flow diagram illustrating an example method forauthenticating a connectivity adapter using an authentication proxy inaccordance with aspects of this disclosure.

FIG. 12 is a block diagram illustrating a segmented data structure inaccordance with aspects of the present disclosure.

FIG. 13 is a flow diagram illustrating an example method for moving datanodes in a segmented data structure in accordance with aspects of thisdisclosure.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

Overview of Example Network Environment

FIG. 1 illustrates network environment 100 in which clinical environment102 communicates with cloud environment 106 via network 104. Theclinical environment 102 may include one or more healthcare facilities(e.g., hospitals). The components of the clinical environment 102 aredescribed in greater detail below with reference to FIG. 2. The network104 may be any wired network, wireless network, or combination thereof.In addition, the network 104 may be a personal area network, local areanetwork, wide area network, over-the-air broadcast network (e.g., forradio or television), cable network, satellite network, cellulartelephone network, or combination thereof. For example, the network 104may be a publicly accessible network of linked networks such as theInternet. For example, the clinical environment 102 and the cloudenvironment 106 may each be implemented on one or more wired and/orwireless private networks, and the network 104 may be a public network(e.g., the Internet) via which the clinical environment 102 and thecloud environment 106 communicate with each other. The cloud environment106 may be a cloud-based platform configured to communicate withmultiple clinical environments. The cloud environment 106 may include acollection of services, which are delivered via the network 104 as webservices. The components of the cloud environment 106 are described ingreater detail below with reference to FIG. 4.

Components of Clinical Environment

FIG. 2 illustrates the clinical environment 102, which includes one ormore clinical IT systems 202, one or more infusion pumps 204, and one ormore connectivity adapters 206. Further, the clinical environment 102may be configured to provide cloud user interfaces 208 (e.g., generatedand provided by the cloud environment 106). The clinical IT system 202may include a hospital infusion system (HIS) designed to manage thefacilities' operation, such as medical, administrative, financial, andlegal issues and the corresponding processing of services. The HIS caninclude one or more electronic medical record (EMR) or electronic healthrecord (EHR) systems, as well. The infusion pump 204 is a medical deviceconfigured to deliver medication to a patient. The connectivity adapter206 is a network component configured to communicate with othercomponents of the clinical environment 102 and also communicate with thecloud environment 106 on behalf of the other components of the clinicalenvironment 102. In one embodiment, all messages communicated betweenthe clinical environment 102 and the cloud environment 106 pass throughthe connectivity adapter 206. In some cases, the connectivity adapter206 is a network appliance with limited storage space (e.g., memoryand/or persistent storage). The cloud user interfaces 208 may beprovided to a user in the clinical environment 102 via a browserapplication, desktop application, mobile application, and the like. Theuser may access status reports and other data stored in the cloudenvironment 106 via the cloud user interfaces 208.

The components 202-208 illustrated in FIG. 2 may communicate with one ormore of the other components in the clinical environment 102. Forexample, each of the clinical IT system 202 and the infusion pump 204may communicate with the connectivity adapter 206 via physical localarea network (LAN) and/or virtual LAN (VLAN). Although not shown in FIG.2, the clinical environment 102 may include other medical devices andnon-medical devices that facilitate the operation of the clinicalenvironment 102.

Overview of Messaging in the Clinical Environment

FIG. 3 illustrates the messages received, stored, and transmitted by theconnectivity adapter 206 in the clinical environment 102. As shown inFIG. 3, the infusion pump 204 may include motor controller unit (MCU)204A and communications engine (CE) 204B. Although not shown in FIG. 3,the infusion pump 204 may include one or more memories and storage mediaconfigured to store various instructions, parameters, and/or messages.The connectivity adapter 206 may include transformation worker 206A,device status manager 206B, cache 206C, and outbound queue 206D. The MCU204A may generate and send messages to the CE 204B for storage andtransmission to the connectivity adapter 206. In some cases, themessages are each associated with a message identifier (ID). In someembodiments, the MCU 204A is a very small processor (e.g., 12 Mhz) andthe CE 204B is a more powerful processor (e.g., 400 Mhz). Pump messagessent to the connectivity adapter 206 generated by the MCU 204A may betransformed into a standardized dataset message (e.g., message formatused by the connectivity adapter 206 to communicate with the cloudenvironment 106, also referred to herein simply as “messages”). In someembodiments, the standardized dataset format may allow multiple messagesto be merged into a single standard dataset message that includes allthe information included in the multiple messages. For example, a pumpmessage that indicates the start of an infusion and another pump messagethat indicates the presence of an air-in-line alarm may occupy differentlocations within the standardized dataset message. Even though thestart-of-infusion message was generated long before theair-in-line-alert message, they may be transmitted together packaged inthe standardized dataset message without having to worry about havingincomplete information about the infusion pump 204 at any given momentor having to request older messages that have been lost or becomeunavailable. The device status manager 206B processes the transformedmessages provided by the transformation worker 206A and merges the dataincluded in the transformed messages into the cache 206C, whichrepresents the current state of the infusion pump 204. For example, thecache 206C may include all of the current parameter values (or to theextent available to the connectivity adapter 206) at the infusion pumpsconnected to the connectivity adapter 206 (e.g., power status, infusionstatus, battery status, network status, infusion start time, volume tobe infused, volume infused, dose, and the like). Although not shown inFIG. 3, the clinical IT system 202 may maintain the identities of thepatients assigned to the individual infusion pumps 204 and other datathat the connectivity adapter 206 may utilize in order to merge themessages from the pump into the cache 206C. For example, the client ITsystem 202 may send instructions for programming the infusion pump 204for initiating an infusion on a patient, and the instructions mayinclude identifiers such as an infusion ID and a patient ID. Uponreceiving a pump message containing the infusion ID, the connectivityadapter 206 can use the infusion ID to determine that the pump messagerelates to the patient having the patient ID (even when the pump messagedoes not include the patient ID) based on the prior instructionsreceived from the client IT system 202. The connectivity adapter 206 canthen add the information included in the pump message to the cache 206Calong with the patient ID.

The device status manager 206B also sends the transformed messages tothe outbound queue 206D for transmission to the cloud environment 106.The messages stored in the outbound queue 206D may be associated withone or more message IDs. For example, a message can be associated with asingle message ID corresponding to the original pump message. In anotherexample, a message can include data from multiple pump messages andtherefore include multiple message IDs. The messages transmitted fromthe outbound queue 206D to the cloud environment 106 may be stored inthe cloud environment 106 for providing reports and other data to aclient (e.g., via the cloud user interfaces 208) and/or for compliancepurposes. Additional details regarding the messaging in the clinicalenvironment 102 are provided below.

Components of Cloud Environment

FIG. 4 illustrates the cloud environment 106 which includes drug librarymanager (DLM) 402, report manager 404, device manager 406, data flowmanager (DFM) 408, cloud manager (CM) 410, data analyzer (DA) 412, anddatabase 414.

The DLM 402 may provide a set of features and functions involved in thecreation and management of drug libraries for use with infusion pumps.These drug libraries may provide user-defined settings for pumpconfiguration and drug infusion error reduction.

The report manager 404 may provide various reporting capabilities forclinically relevant infusion data which users can choose to use forfurther analysis, such as tracking and trending of clinical practices.

The device manager 406 may oversee and manage the maintenance ofinfusion pumps, providing users the capability to view and manage assetand operational data. For example, the device manager 406 may scheduledrug library and software updates for infusion pumps.

The DFM 408 may facilitate storing, caching, and routing of data betweencompatible infusion pumps 204, connectivity adapters 206, cloud services(e.g., infusion pump management software including modules 402-414 ofFIG. 4), and external systems. For example, the DFM may store infusionand operational data received from infusion pumps, store and cacheinfusion pump drug libraries and software images, convert and routenetwork messaging between the cloud environment 106 and the clinicalenvironment 102, convert and route medication order information from ahospital information system to an infusion pump (e.g., auto-programmingor smart-pump programming), and/or convert and route alert informationand infusion events from infusion pumps to hospital information systems(e.g., alarm/alert forwarding, and auto-documentation, or infusiondocumentation).

The CM 410 may serve as a general-purpose computing platform for theother modules illustrated in FIG. 4. Functionally, the CM 410 may besimilar to Microsoft Windows® or Linux® operating systems as it providesthe following services: networking, computation, user administration andsecurity, storage, and monitoring.

The DA 412 may provide data analytics tools for generating userinterfaces and reports based on the data generated and/or received bythe other modules illustrated in FIG. 4.

The database 414 may store data generated and/or received by the modules402-412 of the cloud environment 106. Although not illustrated in FIG.4, the cloud environment may provide other resources such as processors,memory, disk space, network, etc. The modules 402-412 may be hardwarecomponents configured to perform one or more of the techniques describedherein. Alternatively, the modules 402-412 may be implemented usingsoftware instructions stored in physical storage and executed by one ormore processors. Although illustrated as separate components, themodules 402-412 may be implemented as one or more hardware components(e.g., a single component, individual components, or any number ofcomponents), one or more software components (e.g., a single component,individual components, or any number of components), or any combinationthereof.

In some embodiments, the cloud environment 106 can be implemented usinga commercial cloud services provider (e.g., Amazon Web Services®,Microsoft Azure®, Google Cloud®, and the like). In other embodiments,the cloud environment can be implemented using network infrastructuremanaged by the provider and/or developer of the modules 402-412 shown inFIG. 4. In some embodiments, the features and services provided by oneor more of the modules 402-412 may be implemented on one or morehardware computing devices as web services consumable via one or morecommunication networks. In further embodiments, one or more of themodules 402-412 are provided by one or more virtual machines implementedin a hosted computing environment. The hosted computing environment mayinclude one or more rapidly provisioned and released computingresources, such as computing devices, networking devices, and/or storagedevices.

Overview of Messaging in the Cloud Environment

FIG. 5 illustrates the messages received, stored, and transmitted by thecloud environment 106. As shown in FIG. 5, the DFM 408 may include cache408A and outbound queue 408B. The cache 408A may store the current stateof the infusion pump 204. For example, the cache 408A may include all ofthe current parameter values (or to the extent available to the DFM 408)at the infusion pump 204 (e.g., power status, infusion status, batterystatus, network status, infusion start time, volume to be infused,volume infused, dose, and the like). In some cases, the current statestored in the cache 408A is identical to the current state stored in thecache 206C. In other cases, the current state stored in the cache 408Aincludes additional information not stored in the cache 206C, or viceversa. For example, the DFM 408 may have access to data sources notaccessible (or readily accessible) by the connectivity adapter 206, andthe DFM 408 may have obtained additional data prior to merging themessage and the additional data into the cache 408A. In another example,due to a network outage, the connectivity adapter 206 may have been ableto update its own cache 206C but unable to transmit the relevantmessages to the DFM 408. In such a case, the cloud cache 408A mayinclude less information than the connectivity adapter cache 206C. Theoutbound queue 408B may include messages to be transmitted to theclinical environment 102. For example, the outbound queue 408B caninclude command messages (e.g., instructions to update the securitysettings on the connectivity adapter 206), request messages (e.g.,requests for missing messages for logging purposes), etc. In otherexamples, the outbound queue 408B may include log requests, drug libraryupdates, software updates, security updates, and the like. In someembodiments, the items in the outbound queue 408B are lesstime-sensitive than the items in the outbound queue 206D. The process ofdetecting and requesting missing messages from the clinical environment102 is described in greater detail below with reference to FIG. 7. Insome cases, the data stored in the cache 408A may be copied or moved tothe database 414.

Generation and Transmission of Pump Messages

Referring back to FIG. 3, when there is an event at the infusion pump204 (e.g., the device has been powered on, infusion has been started orfinished, an alarm condition has been satisfied, etc.), the MCU 204Agenerates a message indicative of such an event and transmits themessage to the CE 204B. Upon receiving one or more messages from the MCU204A, the CE 204B packages the messages received so far into a pumpmessage (e.g., according to a protocol specific to the infusion pump204) and transmits the pump message to the connectivity adapter 206. Forexample, if multiple messages have been received from the MCU 204A sincethe most recent pump message transmitted to the connectivity adapter206, the CE 204B may merge the information included in the multiplemessages into a single pump message in accordance with the pumpprotocol. The pump message transmitted to the connectivity adapter 206may be reflective of the current state of the infusion pump 204 at thetime the pump message is transmitted to the connectivity adapter 206. Insome embodiments, the infusion pumps 204 do not have Internet access andcommunicate only with the connectivity adapter 206 (e.g., to ensure thatInternet connection is not needed for any clinical operations). In otherembodiments, the infusion pumps 204 may communicate with networkentities other than the connectivity adapter 206 (e.g., the cloudenvironment 106 via the Internet).

The infusion pump 204 may store its current and prior states (e.g.,days, months, or years of messages received from the MCU 204A ortransmitted by the CE 204B) in data store (not shown) located within theinfusion pump 204. As discussed further below, the connectivity adapter206 may process requests from the DFM 408 for pump messages. Forexample, the DFM 408 may request messages from the infusion pump 204when the DFM 408 realizes that it is missing one or more pump message.Pump messages can be missed by the DFM 408 during network outages, orother disruptions to network traffic. In such situations, as will bediscussed in greater detail below, the DFM 408 can request the missingpump messages from the connectivity adapter 206. The messages from theinfusion pump 204 may include one or more parameters. Some of thoseparameters may be data fields that are overwritten as the parameters areupdated. Other parameters are linked lists that include a sequence ofpast parameter values. For example, fields may be used for statuses suchas power status, infusion status, and the like, and linked lists may beused for alerts, ruleset violations, and the like.

Connecting Infusion Pumps to Connectivity Adapter

In the event that the connection between the infusion pump 204 and theconnectivity adapter 206 is terminated or otherwise unavailable, the MCU204A may continue to generate messages and the CE 204B may continue tomerge such additional messages into the most current state of theinfusion pump 204. Once the connection between the infusion pump 204 andthe connectivity adapter 206 is re-established, the CE 204B may transmita single pump message (or multiple pump messages) that reflects all ofthe messages received from the MCU 204A during the time of lostconnectivity. For example, if the CE 204B, during the time of lostconnectivity, received a message that indicates that the power statuschanged to “on” and subsequently received another message that indicatesthat the infusion status changed to “on,” the CE 204B may generate apump message that has two key-value pairs, “power status=on” and“infusion status=on.” In other cases, these messages may be transmittedto the connectivity adapter 206 as separate pump messages.

In some embodiments, when the infusion pump 204 is turned on after beingoff for a period of time, or upon the connection between the infusionpump 204 and the connectivity adapter 206 being re-established, theinfusion pump 204 sends all of the available, unsent messages or data tothe connectivity adapter 206. In some cases, such an approach mayoverload the internal network of the clinical environment 102 (e.g., if500 infusion pumps 204 came back online after being offline for weeks).Thus, in some cases, the connectivity adapter 206 may deliberatelyreject such pump messages to reduce the network load, and have theinfusion pumps 204 re-send the pump messages at a later time. Theinfusion pumps 204 may adopt a schedule for re-sending rejected pumpmessages that further reduces the network load (e.g., exponentialback-offs where each retry is performed after a longer wait period,randomization where the back-offs are not strictly exponential andinclude random temporal variations, a combination of exponentialback-offs and randomization, etc.).

By analyzing the pump messages received from the infusion pump 204, theconnectivity adapter 206 may determine that it has missed one or moremessages that it should have received (e.g., due to older data beingoverwritten in the pump message). For example, if the connectivityadapter 206 receives a pump message that indicates that the power stateof the infusion pump 204 has gone from “sleep” to “on,” where theinformation in the cache 206C indicates that the most recent power stateof the infusion pump 204 was “on.” By comparing the pump message and theinformation in the cache 206C, the connectivity adapter 206 candetermine that it must have missed a pump message that indicates thatthe power state of the infusion pump 204 was changed from “on” to“sleep.” In some cases, the connectivity adapter 206 requests thesemissing messages from the infusion pump 204 immediately. In other cases,the connectivity adapter 206 requests these missing messages at a latertime (e.g., when the network activity is light or below a threshold). Insome cases, the connectivity adapter 206 determines missing pumpmessages based on message IDs that are not in sequence. For example,pump messages may include message IDs that are sequential (such that onepump message generated immediately subsequently to another pump messagehas a message ID that immediately follows the message ID of said anothermessage in a predetermined sequence of numbers or identifiers). In sucha case, upon processing pump messages having message IDs 100050 and100055 in a row, the connectivity adapter 206 may determine that pumpmessages having message IDs 100051-100054 were deleted, overwritten, orlost.

Transformation of Pump Messages

The transformation worker 206A receives the pump messages and convertsit to a standardized message format (e.g., standardized dataset messagesused for transmitting information within and across the clinicalenvironment 102 and the cloud environment 106). In some embodiments, thestandardized dataset message can be a collection or envelope of messagesthat are each a key-value pair. For example, the standardized datasetmessage may include one key-value pair that says “message ID=100015,”another key-value pair that says “power status=on,” and anotherkey-value pair that says “volume to be infused=5 mL.” In some cases, thestandardized dataset message may include one or more keys having novalue or having default values (e.g., “alarm count=0,” or “batterystatus=unknown”). Depending on the pump protocol associated with thepump message, the same information may be located in different parts ofthe pump message. The transformation worker 206A identifies the dataincluded in the pump messages based on the pump protocol and places thedata into the appropriate locations of a standardized dataset message.For example, based on the pump protocol, the transformation worker 206Aextracts the power state of the infusion pump 204 and places the powerstate information in the standardized dataset message, which alsoincludes information other than the power state. For example, allparameters or key-value pairs in the standardized dataset message otherthan those specified by the pump message may be set to default values.In some cases, such parameters or key-value pairs are left blank.Similarly, when requests are sent to the infusion pump 204, thetransformation worker 206A transforms the standardized dataset messageinto a pump message understood by the infusion pump 204. In someembodiments, the transformation worker 206A may be implemented using aruleset engine. In one embodiment, using a ruleset engine advantageouslydoes not require the transformation worker 206A to be rebooted when anew infusion pump or a new pump protocol is added. For example, theability to be able to translate pump messages in a new pump protocol canbe implemented as a configuration file that can be added to theconnectivity adapter 206, where the configuration file allows thetransformation worker 206A to be able to receive and process pumpmessages in the new pump protocol. Once the configuration file is addedto the connectivity adapter 206, the transformation worker 206A canbegin transforming such pump messages into the standardized datasetmessages for further processing by the device status manager 206B. Insome cases, if the transformation worker 206A does not recognize a pumpmessage or the protocol used by the pump message or otherwise cannotprocess the pump message, the transformation worker 206A stores the pumpmessage in the connectivity adapter 206 and transforms the pump messageupon the transformation mapping for the pump protocol becomingavailable.

The transformation worker 206A may further include hints in the headerof the standardized dataset message. The hints indicate to the devicestatus manager 206B which portions of the standardized dataset messagecontain new information and should thus be accessed by the device statusmanager 206B and merged into the cache 206C. Based on the hints, thedevice status manager 206B can refrain from having to process the entirestandardized dataset message generated by the transformation worker206A. For example, the standardized dataset message may have ahierarchical tree structure having five categories of pump parameters,where each category includes multiple pump parameters or sub-categorieshaving multiple parameters. If only a parameter in one of the categoriesincludes new information, the transformation worker 206A may set abinary flag associated with that category to 1 and the binary flagsassociated with the remaining categories to 0 to indicate that the fourcategories do not include any new information. A given standardizeddataset message may include a single hint indicating the location of thesingle piece of new information. Alternatively, the standardized datasetmessage may include multiple hints indicating the multiple locationswhere new information is provided.

Caching in Connectivity Adapter

The device status manager 206B takes the message received from thetransformation worker 206A and “merges” the message into the cache 206C.Merging a message into the cache may include updating the data stored inthe cache 206C based on the information included in the message. In somecases, the message may include information that prompts the devicestatus manager 206B to access additional information from otherdatabases or sources and adding such additional information to the cache206C. For example, based on the infusion ID provided in the message, thedevice status manager 206B may access the identity of the patientassociated with the infusion pump having the infusion ID and store thatinformation in the cache 206C. As another example, the device statusmanager 206B may access the clinical IT system 202 or the cloudenvironment 106 for additional information that can be stored in thecache 206C. Accordingly, information from multiple data sources may bemerged into the cache 206C in response to the pump messages receivedfrom the infusion pump 204. In yet another example, in the event thatthe information needed by the device status manager 206B is in the cloudenvironment 106 (e.g., the pump message references a drug library thatis not yet stored in the clinical environment 102), the device statusmanager 206B merges the message into the cache 206C and places themessage in the outbound queue 206D without accessing the cloudenvironment 106 (e.g., to make the message more complete based on theinformation in the cloud environment 106). In such a case, the DFM 408may, upon receiving the message, access the necessary information, fillin the missing information in the message, and merge the message intothe cache 408A. In some cases, the device status manager 206B may addinformation to the message (e.g., facility ID, account ID, etc.) before(or after) merging the message into the cache 206C.

The cache 206C may store the current state of the individual infusionpumps 204 configured to communicate with the connectivity adapter 206.As additional messages are received from the infusion pumps 204, thedevice status manager 206B updates the current state stored in the cache206C to reflect the changes made by the messages from the infusion pumps204. In some embodiments, the device status manager 206B determineswhether the message received from the transformation worker 206A is alive message or an historical message. A live message includes messagesthat are transmitted to the connectivity adapter 206 based on a newevent at the infusion pump 204. An historical message includes messagesthat are transmitted to the connectivity adapter 206 based on a priorevent at the infusion pump 204. Historical messages may be transmittedat the request of the connectivity adapter 206. The device statusmanager 206B is configured to merge the message into the cache 206C upondetermining that the message is a live message (and alternatively,refrain from merging the message into the cache 206C upon determiningthat the message is an historical message). The cache 206C may beimplemented using an in-memory cache (e.g., Redis) or other storagedevices.

In some cases, the messages sent to the cloud environment 106 are copiesof the current state of the infusion pump 204 stored in the cache 206Cat the time the messages are sent to the cloud environment 106. In othercases, the messages sent to the cloud environment 106 may not includeall the parameters included in the current state of the infusion pump204 stored in the cache 206C. For example, the messages sent to thecloud environment 106 only includes information that might not be storedin the cloud environment 106. In some cases, the device status manager206B does not include in the message transmitted to the cloudenvironment 106 at least some of the information in the cache 206C ifsuch information is otherwise available to the cloud environment 106. Inanother example, the message may include a log request, which is notintended to reflect the current state of an infusion pump. Such a logrequest may include a flag that indicates that the message is a logrequest and a parameter identifying the requested information.

Outbound Queues

Once a message has been merged into the cache 206C, the device statusmanager 206B adds the message to the outbound queue 206D fortransmission to the cloud environment 106. In some embodiments, thedevice status manager adds the message to the outbound queue 206Dregardless of whether the connectivity adapter 206 is connected to thecloud environment 106. The connectivity adapter 206 may include aseparate outbound queue for transmitting messages to the clinical ITsystem 202.

The connectivity adapter 206 may include a service that picks up themessages stored in the outbound queue 206D and tries to route them tothe appropriate endpoints. Such a service may determine whether theconnectivity adapter 206 is connected to the cloud environment 106 ornot. As will be further described below, such a service may determinewhether the messages in the outbound queue 206D should be kept in theoutbound queue 206D or removed from the outbound queue 206D.

Network Outages

The clinical environment 102 may be designed such that clinicalfunctions of the clinical environment 102 continue to operate normallyeven during Internet outages or loss of connectivity to the cloudenvironment 106. Thus, in some embodiments, clinical functions do notrely on connectivity to the cloud environment 106 or information to berequested and received from the cloud environment 106. However, in somecases, the messages stored in the outbound queue 206D may be held in theoutbound queue 206D (e.g., in the event of network jitter or momentaryloss of connection) or removed from the outbound queue 206D (e.g., inthe event of prolonged outage or after the outbound queue 206D becomesfull) during an Internet or network outage.

For example, upon determining that the connection to the cloudenvironment 106 has been terminated or otherwise become unavailable, theconnectivity adapter 206 may determine whether the outbound queue 206Dincludes any messages to be transmitted to the cloud environment 106 anddiscard one or more of the messages from the outbound queue 206D. Forexample, in the event of a prolonged outage, there may be a large numberof messages in the outbound queue 206D, which may overload the network.For example, the large number of messages in the outbound queue 206D maydelay transmission of time-sensitive alerts and may even includemessages that are no longer relevant due to the length of the networkoutage. To prevent such issues, some of the messages in the outboundqueue 206D may be removed without transmitting them to the cloudenvironment 106. In such cases, the cloud environment 106 will requestthose “missing” messages at a later time. In some embodiments, themessages in the outbound queue are discarded based on time (e.g., afterbeing in the outbound queue for a specific amount of time).Alternatively, the determination of whether to discard one or moremessages may be based on the size of the outbound queue. For example,the outbound queue may be fixed in size, and the oldest message isdiscarded upon a new message being added to the outbound queue that isfull. For example, the messages may be discarded based on a first-infirst-out (FIFO) manner. In some cases, the connectivity adapter 206starts removing messages from the outbound queue 206D only after theoutbound queue 206D reaches a threshold message size.

Outbound Queue Clearing Method

With reference now to FIG. 6, an example outbound queue clearing method600 will be described. Since the connectivity adapter 206 does not haveunlimited resources, during a network outage, the connectivity adapter206 cannot let unsent messages pile up in the outbound queue 206Dindefinitely. Further, as discussed above, having to send old messagesthat have been in the outbound queue 206D for a long time and no longerrelevant may reduce network performance and interfere with transmissionof messages that are more relevant. The example method 600 may becarried out, for example, by the connectivity adapter 206 of FIG. 3 (orone or more components thereof). The method 600 illustrates an examplealgorithm that may be programmed, using any suitable programmingenvironment or language, to create machine code capable of execution bya CPU or microcontroller. Various embodiments may be coded usingassembly, C, OBJECTIVE-C, C++, JAVA, or other human-readable languagesand then compiled, assembled, or otherwise transformed into machine codethat can be loaded into read-only memory (ROM), erasable programmableread-only memory (EPROM), or other recordable memory that is coupled tothe CPU or microcontroller and then executed by the CPU ormicrocontroller. For example, when the method 600 is initiated, a set ofexecutable program instructions stored on one or more non-transitorycomputer-readable media (e.g., hard drive, flash memory, removablemedia, etc.) may be loaded into memory (e.g., random access memory or“RAM”) of a computing device of the clinical environment 102 and/or thecloud environment 106. The executable instructions may then be executedby a hardware-based computer processor (e.g., a central processing unitor “CPU”) of the computing device. In some embodiments, the method 600or portions thereof may be implemented on multiple processors, seriallyor in parallel. For convenience, the steps of the example method 600 aredescribed as being performed by the connectivity adapter 206.

At block 602, the connectivity adapter 206 transmits one or moremessages to the cloud environment 106. As discussed above, thetransmitted messages may be processed by the DFM 408 in the cloudenvironment 106 and merged into the cloud cache 408A.

At block 604, the connectivity adapter 206 detects a network outage. Forexample, the connectivity adapter 206 may detect the outage based on nothaving received during a specific time window an acknowledgement ofreceipt of a message transmitted to the cloud environment 106. In someother cases, the connectivity adapter 206 may detect the outage based onits ping receiver not receiving any pings from the cloud environment 106during a specific time window. In yet other cases, the connectivityadapter 206 may detect the outage based on receiving a message that theconnection to the cloud environment 106 has been terminated. In somecases, the connectivity adapter 206 does not determine whether there isa network outage and tries to transmit a given message to the cloudenvironment 106 until an acknowledgement signal is received for thereceipt of the given message. In such cases, the given message mayremain in the outbound queue 206D until the message is successfullytransmitted to the cloud environment 106 or otherwise removed from theoutbound queue 206D (e.g., as discussed with reference to block 606).

At block 606, the connectivity adapter 206 clears stale messages fromthe outbound queue 206D. For example, stale messages may includemessages associated with a pump event that is older than a thresholdamount of time. In another example, stale messages may include messagesthat have been in the outbound queue 206D for more than a thresholdamount of time. In some cases, the threshold amount of time may bepump-specific or pump-event-type-specific. For example, time-sensitiveevents may have a shorter threshold amount of time. In yet anotherexample, a stale message may include a message that has been in theoutbound queue 206D for the longest period of time (e.g., first in). Insome cases, the connectivity adapter 206 may not clear or removemessages from the outbound queue 206D unless the outbound queue 206D isfull.

At block 608, the connectivity adapter 206 determines whether theconnectivity adapter 206 is connected to the cloud environment 106. Upondetermining that the connectivity adapter 206 is not connected to thecloud environment 106, the connectivity adapter 206 proceeds to block606 to clear any stale messages in the outbound queue 206D. Upondetermining that the connectivity adapter 206 is connected to the cloudenvironment 106, the connectivity adapter 206 proceeds to block 610.

At block 610, the connectivity adapter 206 transmits any remainingmessages received during the network outage and still stored in theoutbound queue 206D (e.g., not deleted as stale).

In the method 600, one or more of the blocks shown in FIG. 6 may beremoved (e.g., not performed) and/or the order in which the method 600is performed may be switched. In some embodiments, additional blocks maybe added to the method 600. The embodiments of the present disclosureare not limited to or by the example shown in FIG. 6, and othervariations may be implemented without departing from the spirit of thisdisclosure.

Missing Messages

In some embodiments, each message generated by the MCU 204A isassociated with a unique message ID. In other embodiments, each pumpmessage generated by the CE 204B is associated with a unique message ID.In yet other embodiments, each standardized dataset message generated bythe transformation worker is associated with a unique message ID. Thesemessage IDs may follow a predetermined sequence, and based on one ormore combinations of these message IDs, the DFM 408 processing themessages from the connectivity adapter 206 may determine whether one ormore messages are missing (e.g., have been generated but not received bythe DFM 408). For example, upon determining that a message having amessage ID of 10010 was immediately followed by a message having amessage ID of 10016, the DFM 408 may determine that messages havingmessage IDs 10011-10015 were not received and therefore missing. In somecases, the DFM 408 may be aware of periodic or scheduled messagesexpected to be received from the connectivity adapter 206. Upondetermining that such messages were not received according to theschedule, the DFM 408 may request such messages from the connectivityadapter 206.

Upon determining that the DFM 408 is missing one or more events ormessages, the DFM 408 may generate a request for such messages and storethe request in the outbound queue 408B for transmission to theconnectivity adapter 206. In some embodiments, the request is in thestandardized dataset format and includes a flag having a valueindicating that the request is a log retrieval request and not livedata. A single log retrieval request may identify multiple messages tobe requested from the infusion pump 204. Upon receiving the logretrieval requests from the cloud environment 106, the connectivityadapter 206 may transform the requests to one or more messages in thepump protocol and send to the infusion pump 204. Alternatively, theconnectivity adapter 206 may throttle the requests based on the networkload or condition of the clinical environment 102.

Missing Message Detection Method

With reference now to FIG. 7, an example missing message detectionmethod 700 will be described. The example method 700 may be carried out,for example, by the DFM 408 of FIG. 5 (or one or more componentsthereof). The method 700 illustrates an example algorithm that may beprogrammed, using any suitable programming environment or language, tocreate machine code capable of execution by a CPU or microcontroller.Various embodiments may be coded using assembly, C, OBJECTIVE-C, C++,JAVA, or other human-readable languages and then compiled, assembled, orotherwise transformed into machine code that can be loaded intoread-only memory (ROM), erasable programmable read-only memory (EPROM),or other recordable memory that is coupled to the CPU or microcontrollerand then executed by the CPU or microcontroller. For example, when themethod 700 is initiated, a set of executable program instructions storedon one or more non-transitory computer-readable media (e.g., hard drive,flash memory, removable media, etc.) may be loaded into memory (e.g.,random access memory or “RAM”) of a computing device of the clinicalenvironment 102 and/or the cloud environment 106. The executableinstructions may then be executed by a hardware-based computer processor(e.g., a central processing unit or “CPU”) of the computing device. Insome embodiments, the method 700 or portions thereof may be implementedon multiple processors, serially or in parallel. For convenience, thesteps of the example method 700 are described as being performed by theDFM 408.

At block 702, the DFM 408 receives messages from the connectivityadapter 206. As discussed above, the messages may reflect the currentstate of the infusion pumps 204 connected to the connectivity adapter206 and may be in the standardized dataset format.

At block 704, the DFM 408 detects missing messages. For example, the DFM408 may detect one or more missing messages based on missing message IDs(i.e. after receiving a message with a message ID that does notimmediately follow the message ID of the immediately prior message).

At block 706, the DFM 408 generates a request for the missing messagesfor transmission to the connectivity adapter 206. For example, the DFM408 may wait until the number of missing messages reaches a thresholdnumber (e.g., for a single pump or for a single connectivity adapter),and request the missing messages in bulk (e.g., under a single request).The generated request may be added to the outbound queue 408B.

At block 708, the DFM 408 transmits the request to the connectivityadapter 206. Upon receiving the request, the connectivity adapter 206may generate a corresponding request for the requested messages fortransmission to the infusion pump 204.

In the method 700, one or more of the blocks shown in FIG. 7 may beremoved (e.g., not performed) and/or the order in which the method 700is performed may be switched. In some embodiments, additional blocks maybe added to the method 700. The embodiments of the present disclosureare not limited to or by the example shown in FIG. 7, and othervariations may be implemented without departing from the spirit of thisdisclosure.

Merging Messages into Cloud Cache

The DFM 408 may merge the messages received from the connectivityadapter 206 into the cache 408A. In some cases, the DFM 408 merges amessage into the cache 408A upon determining that the current time iswithin a threshold time period from the time associated with themessage. For example, the DFM 408 may determine that a messageassociated with an alert generated 5 hours ago was received too late forthe message to be merged into the cache 408A and refrain from mergingthe message into the cache 408A. In some embodiments, all data stored inthe cloud cache 408A are received from the connectivity adapter 206, andthe cloud cache 408A does not include any data that is not in theconnectivity adapter 206 or was not previously processed by theconnectivity adapter 206. In other embodiments, the cloud cache 408Astores drug library information, software update information, and thelike that may not be in the connectivity adapter cache 206C. In someembodiments, the DFM 408 pre-processes a portion of the data stored inthe cache 408A and/or pre-generates user interface data that may berequested by the clinical environment 102 and stores them in the cache408A for faster access.

Message Merging and Caching Method

With reference now to FIG. 8, an example message merging and cachingmethod 800 will be described. The example method 800 may be carried out,for example, by the DFM 408 of FIG. 5 (or one or more componentsthereof). The method 800 illustrates an example algorithm that may beprogrammed, using any suitable programming environment or language, tocreate machine code capable of execution by a CPU or microcontroller.Various embodiments may be coded using assembly, C, OBJECTIVE-C, C++,JAVA, or other human-readable languages and then compiled, assembled, orotherwise transformed into machine code that can be loaded intoread-only memory (ROM), erasable programmable read-only memory (EPROM),or other recordable memory that is coupled to the CPU or microcontrollerand then executed by the CPU or microcontroller. For example, when themethod 800 is initiated, a set of executable program instructions storedon one or more non-transitory computer-readable media (e.g., hard drive,flash memory, removable media, etc.) may be loaded into memory (e.g.,random access memory or “RAM”) of a computing device of the clinicalenvironment 102 and/or the cloud environment 106. The executableinstructions may then be executed by a hardware-based computer processor(e.g., a central processing unit or “CPU”) of the computing device. Insome embodiments, the method 800 or portions thereof may be implementedon multiple processors, serially or in parallel. For convenience, thesteps of the example method 800 are described as being performed by theDFM 408.

At block 802, the DFM 408 receives a message from the connectivityadapter 206. As discussed above, the message may reflect the currentstate of the infusion pump 204 connected to the connectivity adapter 206and may be in the standardized dataset format.

At block 804, the DFM 408 merges the message into the cache 408A. Insome cases, the DFM 408 determines whether the message is relevant toany potential UI generation requests (e.g., may be used to generate a UIprovided to the clinical environment 102). Based on determining that themessage is relevant to a potential UI generation request, the DFM 408may merge the message into the cache 408A. Alternatively, based ondetermining that the message is not relevant to a potential UIgeneration request, the DFM 408 may refrain from merging the messageinto the cache 408A and merge the message into a database (e.g.,database 414). In other embodiments, the DFM 408 may merge the messageinto the cache 408A, and remove the information included in the messagefrom the cache 408A to the database 414 based on a determination thatthe message is not relevant to a potential UI generation request (e.g.,after a specific time window).

At block 806, the DFM 408 receives a request to generate a userinterface (e.g., from the clinical environment 102). The user interfacedata to be generated may be based on information previously provided bythe connectivity adapter 206 (e.g., pump status, infusion status, powerstatus, etc.).

At block 808, the DFM 408 accesses the cache 408A for information to beused for generating the user interface. For example, the information mayinclude the current state of a single infusion pump, multiple infusionpumps in communication with a single connectivity adapter at a singlefacility, multiple infusion pumps in communication with multipleconnectivity adapters at a single facility, multiple infusion pumps atmultiple facilities, or any combination thereof.

At block 810, the DFM 408 provides the information accessed from thecache 408A to other services such as the report manager 404 or thedevice manager 406. Such services may generate the user interface andtransmit the generated user interface to the clinical environment 102(e.g., for presentation via the cloud user interface 208). In somecases, the requested user interface data are pre-generated by suchservices and stored in the cache 408A. In such cases, the such servicescan simply access and transmit the user interface data stored in thecache 408A to the clinical environment 102 or update the user interfacedata stored in the cache 408A before transmitting them to the clinicalenvironment 102.

In the method 800, one or more of the blocks shown in FIG. 8 may beremoved (e.g., not performed) and/or the order in which the method 800is performed may be switched. In some embodiments, additional blocks maybe added to the method 800. The embodiments of the present disclosureare not limited to or by the example shown in FIG. 8, and othervariations may be implemented without departing from the spirit of thisdisclosure.

Pump Message Conversion Method

With reference now to FIG. 9, an example pump message conversion method900 connectivity adapter 206 of FIG. 3 (or one or more componentsthereof). The method 900 illustrates an example algorithm that may beprogrammed, using any suitable programming environment or language, tocreate machine code capable of execution by a CPU or microcontroller ofthe connectivity adapter 206. Various embodiments may be coded usingassembly, C, OBJECTIVE-C, C++, JAVA, or other human-readable languagesand then compiled, assembled, or otherwise transformed into machine codethat can be loaded into read-only memory (ROM), erasable programmableread-only memory (EPROM), or other recordable memory of connectivityadapter 206 that is coupled to the CPU or microcontroller and thenexecuted by the CPU or microcontroller. For example, when the method 900is initiated, a set of executable program instructions stored on one ormore non-transitory computer-readable media (e.g., hard drive, flashmemory, removable media, etc.) may be loaded into memory (e.g., randomaccess memory or “RAM”) of a computing device of the clinicalenvironment 102 and/or the cloud environment 106. The executableinstructions may then be executed by a hardware-based computer processor(e.g., a central processing unit or “CPU”) of the computing device. Insome embodiments, the method 900 or portions thereof may be implementedon multiple processors, serially or in parallel. For convenience, thesteps of the example method 900 are described as being performed by thetransformation worker 206A.

At block 902, the transformation worker 206A detects a new type ofinfusion pump that uses a new pump protocol. For example, thetransformation worker 206A may check the device ID or protocol IDassociated with the infusion pump and determine that the device ID orprotocol ID does not match a predetermined list of device IDs orprotocol IDs.

At block 904, the transformation worker 206A generates a connector(e.g., a software module or a set of computer executable instructions)for converting messages in the new pump protocol to the standardizeddataset messages. For example, the transformation worker 206A maydownload a new configuration file that can be used to implement theconnector from the cloud environment 106. Alternatively, thetransformation worker 206A may access the parameters included in amessage in the new pump protocol and compare the parameters to theparameters in a standardized dataset message to generate a mappingbetween the two sets of parameters.

At block 906, the transformation worker 206A adds the connector betweenone or more infusion pumps using the new pump protocol. For example, thetransformation worker 206A may add the protocol ID to the list ofmappings that the transformation worker 206A is configured to perform.The transformation worker 206A may add the protocol ID to the list ofmappings that the transformation worker 206A checks for upon receiving apump message.

At block 908, the transformation worker 206A converts a message from theinfusion pump using the new pump protocol to a standardized datasetmessage using the connector.

At block 910, the transformation worker 206A processes the convertedmessage. For example, the transformation worker 206A may send themessage to the device status manager 206B to be merged into the cache206C and/or added to the outbound queue 206D.

In the method 900, one or more of the blocks shown in FIG. 9 may beremoved (e.g., not performed) and/or the order in which the method 900is performed may be switched. In some embodiments, additional blocks maybe added to the method 900. The embodiments of the present disclosureare not limited to or by the example shown in FIG. 9, and othervariations may be implemented without departing from the spirit of thisdisclosure.

Cloud Authentication via Proxy

FIG. 10 illustrates a computing environment 1000 including user device1002, the clinical environment 102 including the connectivity adapter206, and the cloud environment 106 including authentication system 1004and authentication proxy 1006. As shown in FIG. 10, the authenticationsystem 1004 may be configured to authenticate users based on loginrequests from the user devices 1002, and provide cloud services to userdevices 1002 that are successfully authenticated. In such cases, theuser device 1002 may own user accounts created by the authenticationsystem 1004 and provide the login credentials for the user accounts eachtime accessing the cloud services provided by the cloud environment 106.

In some cases, the connectivity adapter 206 may be a network applianceand may lack the capability of managing and maintaining its own useraccount. In such cases, the connectivity adapter 206 may send anauthentication request to the authentication proxy 1006 (e.g., via aconnection such as a secured and authenticated WebSocket connection oranother other TCP connection), and the authentication proxy 1006 mayprovide login credentials to the authentication system 1004 on behalf ofthe connectivity adapter 206 and receive a security token that can beused by the connectivity adapter 206 to generate a signed request. Theconnectivity adapter 206 may send the signed request to theauthentication system 1004 (e.g., using HTTP), just as the authenticateduser devices 1002 do in FIG. 10. In some cases, the connection betweenthe connectivity adapter 206 and the authentication proxy 1006 utilize adifferent communications protocol (e.g., WebSocket) than the connectionbetween the connectivity adapter 206 and the authentication system 1004(e.g., HTTP). By using the authentication proxy 1006, the connectivityadapter can utilize the cloud services provided by the cloud environment106 without having to manage user accounts or login credentials. Theauthentication proxy 1006 may maintain one or more user accounts perclinical environment account.

Connectivity Adapter Authentication Method

With reference now to FIG. 11, an example connectivity adapterauthentication method 1100 will be described. The example method 1100may be carried out, for example, by the authentication proxy 1006 ofFIG. 10. The method 1100 illustrates an example algorithm that may beprogrammed, using any suitable programming environment or language, tocreate machine code capable of execution by a CPU or microcontroller.Various embodiments may be coded using assembly, C, OBJECTIVE-C, C++,JAVA, or other human-readable languages and then compiled, assembled, orotherwise transformed into machine code that can be loaded intoread-only memory (ROM), erasable programmable read-only memory (EPROM),or other recordable memory that is coupled to the CPU or microcontrollerand then executed by the CPU or microcontroller. For example, when themethod 1100 is initiated, a set of executable program instructionsstored on one or more non-transitory computer-readable media (e.g., harddrive, flash memory, removable media, etc.) may be loaded into memory(e.g., random access memory or “RAM”) of a computing device of theclinical environment 102 and/or the cloud environment 106. Theexecutable instructions may then be executed by a hardware-basedcomputer processor (e.g., a central processing unit or “CPU”) of thecomputing device. In some embodiments, the method 1100 or portionsthereof may be implemented on multiple processors, serially or inparallel. For convenience, the steps of the example method 1100 aredescribed as being performed by the authentication proxy 1006.

At block 1102, the authentication proxy 1006 receives an authenticationrequest from the connectivity adapter 206 via a secured andauthenticated WebSocket connection. For example, the WebSocketconnection may be the connection via which the connectivity adapter 206transmits messages to the cloud environment 106.

At block 1104, the authentication proxy 1006 identifies the logincredentials of a user account to be used for authenticating theconnectivity adapter 206. For example, the authentication proxy 1006 mayidentify the user account based on one or more identifiers associatedwith the clinical environment 102. In some embodiments, the clinicalenvironment 102 is associated with a or more identifiers and hasmultiple regions, healthcare systems, and facilities therein.

At block 1106, the authentication proxy 1006 transmits the logincredentials to the authentication system 1004, and at block 1108, theauthentication proxy 1006 receives a security token from theauthentication system 1004.

At block 1110, the authentication proxy 1006 transmits the securitytoken to the connectivity adapter 206, and at block 1112, theauthentication proxy 1006 causes the connectivity adapter 206 totransmit a signed request to the authentication system using HTTP.

In the method 1100, one or more of the blocks shown in FIG. 11 may beremoved (e.g., not performed) and/or the order in which the method 1100is performed may be switched. In some embodiments, additional blocks maybe added to the method 1100. The embodiments of the present disclosureare not limited to or by the example shown in FIG. 11, and othervariations may be implemented without departing from the spirit of thisdisclosure.

Data Segmentation

FIG. 12 shows a block diagram illustrating a segmented data structure1200 including an account data node 1202, which includes region datanodes 1204 and 1206. The region data node 1204 includes system data node1208, and the region data node 1206 includes system data nodes 1210 and1212. The system data node 1208 includes facility data node 1214. Asshown in FIG. 12, facility data node that used to belong to the systemdata node 1208 has been moved to the system data node 1210, whichfurther includes facility data node 1218. The system data node 1212includes facility data node 1220. As shown in FIG. 12, the facility datanode includes infusion pumps 1218A, 1218B, 1218C, etc. The account datanode 1202 corresponds to an account generated for each unique entitythat may own, oversee, and/or manage one or more healthcare facilities(e.g., hospital facilities) in one or more healthcare systems (e.g., anetwork of hospitals) in one or more regions (e.g., geographicaldivisions including multiple networks of hospitals). For example, theclinical environment 102 may correspond to any of a facility, system,region, or account.

In some embodiments, the data generated by the infusion pumps 204 and/orthe connectivity adapters 206 at the individual facilities may be taggedwith the facility ID and the account ID, since those two identifiers maybe permanent. For example, the connectivity adapter 206 may receive amessage from the infusion pump 204, convert the message into astandardized dataset message, and inject one or more tags into thestandardized dataset message by adding or setting one or morecorresponding key-value pairs (e.g., facilityID=F0293, accountID=A29847,etc.) in the standardized dataset message. On the other hand, as thefacilities are restructured and moved around within the enterprisestructure, the data corresponding to the facilities may be assigned adifferent system ID or region ID. For example, in the example of FIG.12, the facility data node 1216 has been moved from the system data node1208 to system data node 1210 (e.g., representative of a change in theboundary between two regions), the data generated at the facilitycorresponding to the facility data node 1216, while still belonging tothe facility data node 1216 and account data node 1202, no longerbelongs to the system data node 1208 and region data node 1204, andinstead belongs to the system data node 1210 and region data node 1206.Thus, by tagging the messages prior to transmitting them to the cloudenvironment 106 with immutable IDs (e.g., facility ID and account ID)and not IDs that may or may not change in the future, the connectivityadapter 206 facilitates security control, access, filtering, andreporting of such data. Further, as a result, the infusion pumps 204need not be aware or keep track of the facility to which they areconnected, since any messages or other data generated by the infusionpumps 204 will be appropriately tagged by the connectivity adapter 206to which they are connected. For example, if an infusion pump is movedfrom one facility to another, the infusion pump can simply start sendingmessages to the connectivity adapter 206 at the new facility withoutworrying about the change in facility, since any new data generated bythe infusion pump at the new facility will be tagged with the newfacility ID by the new connectivity adapter 206. Further, by allowingthe facilities to be moved across systems and regions, the segmenteddata structure 1200 allows facilities having one characteristic to bedecoupled from other facilities having another characteristic (e.g., EHRvendor A vs. EHR vendor B, pump type X vs. pump type Y, etc.).

In some embodiments, data generated by the infusion pumps and/orconnectivity adapters may include a facility ID and an account ID asimmutable (permanent) IDs, and may include one or more mutable IDs suchas a region ID and a system ID. The IDs associated with the datagenerated in a given facility may reflect the structural associations atthe time of generation (old structure). When the facility is laterrestructured (new structure), the new structure is used in connectionwith the data (e.g., for reporting the data) and the prior mutable IDsmay be ignored or updated as needed. Thus, data records are tagged basedon the structure (e.g., account, region, system, facility) at the timethat the data records are created. When the structure is subsequentlymodified, the system can (i) continue to use the data records as taggedat the time of creation despite the changes, (ii) update the mutable IDsto reflect the modified structure, and use the data records with theimmutable IDs and updated mutable IDs, (iii) use the data records withonly the immutable IDs (e.g., ignoring the mutable IDs), or (iv) use thedata records with the immutable IDs and any mutable IDs that stillreflect the modified structure.

Segmented Data Restructuring Method

With reference now to FIG. 13, an example segmented data restructuringmethod 1300 will be described. The example method 1300 may be carriedout, for example, by the connectivity adapter 206 of FIG. 3 (or one ormore components thereof) or the cloud environment 106 of FIG. 5 (or oneor more components thereof). The method 1300 illustrates an examplealgorithm that may be programmed, using any suitable programmingenvironment or language, to create machine code capable of execution bya CPU or microcontroller. Various embodiments may be coded usingassembly, C, OBJECTIVE-C, C++, JAVA, or other human-readable languagesand then compiled, assembled, or otherwise transformed into machine codethat can be loaded into read-only memory (ROM), erasable programmableread-only memory (EPROM), or other recordable memory that is coupled tothe CPU or microcontroller and then executed by the CPU ormicrocontroller. For example, when the method 1300 is initiated, a setof executable program instructions stored on one or more non-transitorycomputer-readable media (e.g., hard drive, flash memory, removablemedia, etc.) may be loaded into memory (e.g., random access memory or“RAM”) of a computing device of the clinical environment 102 and/or thecloud environment 106. The executable instructions may then be executedby a hardware-based computer processor (e.g., a central processing unitor “CPU”) of the computing device. In some embodiments, the method 1300or portions thereof may be implemented on multiple processors, seriallyor in parallel. For convenience, the steps of the example method 1300are described as being performed by the connectivity adapter 206 and/orthe cloud environment 106.

At block 1302, the connectivity adapter 206 receives a message from aninfusion pump 204 at a facility (e.g., hospital).

At block 1304, the connectivity adapter 206 adds an account ID and afacility ID to the message received from the infusion pump 204. In somecases, the message from the infusion pump 204 may be converted to astandardized dataset message, and the account ID and facility ID may beadded to the standardized dataset message. In some embodiments, theconnectivity adapter 206 determines one or more IDs described herein(e.g., account ID, facility ID, region ID, system ID, etc.) associatedwith the infusion pump 204 by checking one or more indicators in apriority order. For example, the connectivity adapter 206 may determinea given indicator associated with the infusion pump 204 and access adatabase of facility IDs (or other IDs) to determine whether any of thefacility IDs are associated with the determined indicator associatedwith the infusion pump 204. The indicator may be one or more of (i) thenetwork port via which the infusion pump 204 is connected to theconnectivity adapter 206 (e.g., pumps associated with Facility A mayconnect via Port 9292, pumps associated with Facility B may connect viaPort 9293, etc.), (ii) location data associated with the infusion pump204, (iii) the Internet Protocol (IP) address associated with theinfusion pump 204, (iv) the name associated with the infusion pump 204,(v) the Media Access Control (MAC) address associated with the infusionpump 204, (vi) the Wi-Fi access point associated with the infusion pump204, and (vii) the serial number associated with the infusion pump 204.If the connectivity adapter 206 determines, after checking one or moreof the indicators, that the facility ID (or another ID) cannot be foundin the database, the connectivity adapter 206 may add a default facilityID to the message received from the infusion pump 204 at block 1304,indicating that the pump message originated from an infusion pump notassociated with a known facility.

In some embodiments, one or more of the indicators described herein arechecked in a specific priority order. For example, the connectivityadapter 206 may first try to determine the facility ID (or another ID)based on the MAC address of the infusion pump 204. If the connectivityadapter 206 does not find a facility ID matching the MAC address, theconnectivity adapter 206 may then try to determine the facility ID basedon the serial number of the infusion pump 204. If the connectivityadapter 206 does not find a facility ID matching the serial number, theconnectivity adapter 206 may then try to determine the facility ID basedon the location data associated with the infusion pump 204. If theconnectivity adapter 206 does not find a facility ID matching thelocation data, the connectivity adapter 206 may add a default facilityID to the message received from the infusion pump 204 at block 1304,indicating that the pump message originated from an infusion pump notassociated with a known facility. Although the priority order of MACaddress, serial number, and location data is used as an example, thetechniques described herein can be applied to any other combination ofindicators may be checked in any other priority order.

At block 1306, the cloud environment 106 transfers the facility at whichthe infusion pump 204 is located to another system (e.g., a healthcaresystem or a network of facilities) without changing the account ID andthe facility ID of the message. For example, the facility may be usingthe EMR system from vendor A, and all facilities using the EMR systemfrom vendor A within the existing healthcare system may have beenseparated out to a new healthcare system.

At block 1308, the cloud environment 106 updates the region ID and thesystem ID associated with the facility in which the infusion pump 204 islocated. By updating the region ID and system ID of the facility, anynew data generated in the facility may be accessible using the newregion ID and system ID. Further, even after moving the facility 1216from the system 1208 to the system 1210, the pump messages generated bythe infusion pumps at the facility 1216 may continue to be stamped,tagged, or otherwise associated with the same account ID and thefacility ID as those used prior to the move. In some cases, when aninfusion pump is physically moved to a new facility, the connectivityadapter 206 at the new facility may stamp, tag, or otherwise associatethe pump messages generated by the infusion pump with a new facility IDcorresponding to the new facility.

In the method 1300, one or more of the blocks shown in FIG. 13 may beremoved (e.g., not performed) and/or the order in which the method 1300is performed may be switched. In some embodiments, additional blocks maybe added to the method 1300. The embodiments of the present disclosureare not limited to or by the example shown in FIG. 13, and othervariations may be implemented without departing from the spirit of thisdisclosure.

EXAMPLE CLAUSES

Embodiments of the present disclosure can be defined by the followingnon-limiting clauses:

Clause 1. A system configured to facilitate messaging during a networkoutage, the system comprising: a plurality of infusion pumps configuredto deliver medication to patients, each infusion pump of the pluralityof infusion pumps comprising a memory configured to store operationalsoftware and a processor configured to generate pump messages; aconnectivity adapter comprising computer hardware and in communicationwith the plurality of infusion pumps over a first network; and a servercomprising computer hardware and in communication with the connectivityadapter over a second network different from the first network, whereinthe connectivity adapter is configured to: receive a first pump messagefrom a first infusion pump of the plurality of infusion pumps, the firstpump message including information that is new to the connectivityadapter; generate a first standardized dataset message based on theinformation in the first pump message; store the first standardizeddataset message in an outbound queue for transmission to the server;subsequent to storing the first standardized dataset message in theoutbound queue, receive a second pump message from the first infusionpump, the second pump message including additional information that isnew to the connectivity adapter; generate a second standardized datasetmessage based on the additional information in the second pump message;store the second standardized dataset message in the outbound queue fortransmission to the server; remove the first standardized datasetmessage from the outbound queue without transmitting the firststandardized dataset message to the server; and transmit the secondstandardized dataset message in the outbound queue to the server.

Clause 2. The system of Clause 1, wherein the first pump messageincludes a first message identifier (ID), and the second pump messageincludes a second message ID that immediately follows the first messageID in value.

Clause 3. The system of Clause 1, wherein the first standardized datasetmessage includes a first message identifier (ID), and the secondstandardized dataset message includes a second message ID thatimmediately follows the first message ID in value.

Clause 4. The system of Clause 1, wherein the first pump messageincludes a first parameter indicative of a status of the first infusionpump, and the first standardized dataset message includes (i) the firstparameter and (ii) a second parameter that is not in the first pumpmessage and indicative of another status of the first infusion pump.

Clause 5. The system of Clause 4, wherein the second parameter isassociated with one of a null value or a default value.

Clause 6. The system of Clause 1, wherein the connectivity adapter isfurther configured to store the information in the first pump message ina cache.

Clause 7. The system of Clause 6, wherein the connectivity adapter isfurther configured to receive a third pump message from the firstinfusion pump, and based on determining that the third pump message doesnot include information new to the connectivity adapter, refrain fromstoring the information in the third pump message in the cache.

Clause 8. The system of Clause 1, wherein the connectivity adapter isfurther configured to update a parameter stored in a cache based on theinformation in the first pump message.

Clause 9. The system of Clause 1, wherein the connectivity adapter isfurther configured to, subsequent to removing the first standardizeddataset message from the outbound queue without transmitting the firststandardized dataset message to the server, receive a request for thefirst pump message from the server.

Clause 10. The system of Clause 9, wherein the connectivity adapter isfurther configured to, in response to the request for the first pumpmessage, transmit a request for the first pump message to the firstinfusion pump.

Clause 11. A method of facilitating messaging during a network outage,the method comprising: receiving a first pump message from a firstinfusion pump over a first network; generating a first standardizeddataset message based on the information in the first pump message;storing the first standardized dataset message in an outbound queue fortransmission to a server over a second network different from the firstnetwork; subsequent to storing the first standardized dataset message inthe outbound queue, receiving a second pump message from the firstinfusion pump over the first network; generating a second standardizeddataset message based on the additional information in the second pumpmessage; storing the second standardized dataset message in the outboundqueue for transmission to the server; removing the first standardizeddataset message from the outbound queue without transmitting the firststandardized dataset message to the server; and transmitting the secondstandardized dataset message in the outbound queue to the server overthe second network.

Clause 12. The method of Clause 11, wherein the first pump messageincludes a first message identifier (ID), and the second pump messageincludes a second message ID that immediately follows the first messageID in value.

Clause 13. The method of Clause 11, wherein the first standardizeddataset message includes a first message identifier (ID), and the secondstandardized dataset message includes a second message ID thatimmediately follows the first message ID in value.

Clause 14. The method of Clause 11, wherein the first pump messageincludes a first parameter indicative of a status of the first infusionpump, and the first standardized dataset message includes (i) the firstparameter and (ii) a second parameter that is not in the first pumpmessage and indicative of another status of the first infusion pump.

Clause 15. The method of Clause 14, wherein the second parameter isassociated with one of a null value or a default value.

Clause 16. The method of Clause 11, further comprising storing theinformation in the first pump message in a cache.

Clause 17. The method of Clause 16, further comprising receiving a thirdpump message from the first infusion pump, and based on determining thatthe third pump message does not include information new to theconnectivity adapter, refraining from storing the information in thethird pump message in the cache.

Clause 18. The method of Clause 11, further comprising updating aparameter stored in a cache based on the information in the first pumpmessage.

Clause 19. The method of Clause 11, further comprising, subsequent toremoving the first standardized dataset message from the outbound queuewithout transmitting the first standardized dataset message to theserver, receiving a request for the first pump message from the server.

Clause 20. The method of Clause 19, further comprising, in response tothe request for the first pump message, transmitting a request for thefirst pump message to the first infusion pump.

Clause 21. A system configured to facilitate messaging during a networkoutage, the system comprising: a plurality of infusion pumps configuredto deliver medication to patients, each infusion pump of the pluralityof infusion pumps comprising a memory configured to store operationalsoftware and a processor configured to generate pump messages; aconnectivity adapter comprising computer hardware and in communicationwith the plurality of infusion pumps over a first network; and a servercomprising computer hardware and in communication with the connectivityadapter over a second network different from the first network, whereinthe connectivity adapter is configured to: receive a first pump messagefrom a first infusion pump of the plurality of infusion pumps, the firstpump message including information that is new to the connectivityadapter; generate a first standardized dataset message based on theinformation in the first pump message; store the first standardizeddataset message in an outbound queue for transmission to the server;subsequent to storing the first standardized dataset message in theoutbound queue, receive a second pump message from the first infusionpump, the second pump message including additional information that isnew to the connectivity adapter; generate a second standardized datasetmessage based on the additional information in the second pump message;store the second standardized dataset message in the outbound queue fortransmission to the server; determine whether a removal condition forremoving the first standardized dataset message from the outbound queuewithout transmitting the first standardized dataset message to theserver is satisfied; and subsequent to determining whether the removalcondition is satisfied, removing the first standardized dataset messagefrom the outbound queue.

Clause 22. The system of Clause 21, wherein the connectivity adapter isfurther configured to, subsequent to determining that the removalcondition is satisfied, remove the first standardized dataset messagefrom the outbound queue without transmitting the first standardizeddataset message to the server.

Clause 23. The system of Clause 21, wherein the connectivity adapter isfurther configured to, subsequent to determining that the removalcondition is not satisfied, remove the first standardized datasetmessage from the outbound queue and transmit the first standardizeddataset message to the server.

Clause 24. The system of Clause 22 or 23, wherein determining whetherthe removal condition is satisfied comprises determining whether thefirst standardized dataset message has been in the outbound queue for atime period greater than a threshold time period.

Clause 25. The system of Clause 22 or 23, wherein determining whetherthe removal condition is satisfied comprises determining whether theoutbound queue includes a number of messages that is greater than athreshold number of messages.

Clause 26. The system of Clause 22 or 23, wherein the first pump messageincludes a first message identifier (ID), and the second pump messageincludes a second message ID that immediately follows the first messageID in value.

Clause 27. The system of Clause 22 or 23, wherein the first standardizeddataset message includes a first message identifier (ID), and the secondstandardized dataset message includes a second message ID thatimmediately follows the first message ID in value.

Clause 28. The system of Clause 22 or 23, wherein the first pump messageincludes a first parameter indicative of a status of the first infusionpump, and the first standardized dataset message includes (i) the firstparameter and (ii) a second parameter that is not in the first pumpmessage and indicative of another status of the first infusion pump.

Clause 29. The system of Clause 28, wherein the second parameter isassociated with one of a null value or a default value.

Clause 30. The system of Clause 22 or 23, wherein the connectivityadapter is further configured to store the information in the first pumpmessage in a cache.

Clause 31. The system of Clause 30, wherein the connectivity adapter isfurther configured to receive a third pump message from the firstinfusion pump, and based on determining that the third pump message doesnot include information new to the connectivity adapter, refrain fromstoring the information in the third pump message in the cache.

Clause 32. The system of Clause 22 or 23, wherein the connectivityadapter is further configured to update a parameter stored in a cachebased on the information in the first pump message.

Clause 33. The system of Clause 22, wherein the connectivity adapter isfurther configured to, subsequent to removing the first standardizeddataset message from the outbound queue without transmitting the firststandardized dataset message to the server, receive a request for thefirst pump message from the server.

Clause 34. The system of Clause 33, wherein the connectivity adapter isfurther configured to, in response to the request for the first pumpmessage, transmit a request for the first pump message to the firstinfusion pump.

Clause 35. A method for providing messaging in a clinical environment,the method comprising: storing a plurality of messages in a messagequeue, wherein the plurality of messages contain information about oneor more infusion pumps residing in the clinical environment, theplurality of messages stored in the message queue including at least afirst message and a second message; transmitting at least some of theplurality of messages to a remote server configured to receive messagesgenerated in the clinical environment; subsequent to the transmission,detecting a network outage, wherein the network outage preventstransmission of messages to the remote server; determining that thefirst message in the message queue satisfies a condition for beingremoved from the message queue without being successfully transmitted tothe remote server; removing the first message from the message queuesuch that the first message is removed from the message queue prior tobeing received by the remote server; determining that the network outagehas been resolved; and transmitting the second message to the remoteserver such that the second message is received by the remote server andthe first message is not received by the remote server.

Clause 36. The method of Clause 35, further comprising detecting thenetwork outage based at least on not having received an acknowledgementfrom the remote server during a specific time window.

Clause 37. The method of Clause 35, further comprising detecting thenetwork outage based at least on receiving a message from the remoteserver that a connection to the remote server is terminated.

Clause 38. The method of Clause 35, further comprising determining thatthe first message satisfies the condition based at least on the firstmessage being associated with an infusion pump event that is older thana threshold amount of time.

Clause 39. The method of Clause 35, further comprising determining thatthe first message satisfies the condition based at least on the firstmessage being the oldest message in the message queue.

Clause 40. The method of Clause 35, further comprising determining thatthe first message satisfies the condition based at least on the messagequeue being full.

Clause 41. The method of Clause 35, further comprising attempting, priorto determining that the first message satisfies the condition, totransmit the first message to the remote server, and determining thatthe first message was not received by the remote server.

Clause 42. An apparatus configured to provide messaging in a clinicalenvironment, the apparatus comprising: one or more processors; and oneor more memories in communication with the one or more processors andstoring computer-executable instructions that, when executed by the oneor more processors, configure the one or more processors to: cause aplurality of messages to be stored in a message queue, wherein theplurality of messages contain information about one or more infusionpumps residing in the clinical environment, the plurality of messagesstored in the message queue including at least a first message and asecond message; cause at least some of the plurality of messages to betransmitted to a remote server configured to receive messages generatedin the clinical environment; subsequent to the transmission, determinethat the first message in the message queue satisfies a condition forbeing removed from the message queue; cause the first message to beremoved from the message queue such that the first message is removedfrom the message queue prior to being received by the remote server; andcause the second message to be transmitted to the remote server suchthat the second message is received by the remote server and the firstmessage is not received by the remote server.

Clause 43. The apparatus of Clause 42, wherein the computer-executableinstructions, when executed by the one or more processors, furtherconfigure the one or more processors to detect a network outage thatprevents transmission of messages to the remote server.

Clause 44. The apparatus of Clause 43, wherein the computer-executableinstructions, when executed by the one or more processors, furtherconfigure the one or more processors to detect the network outage basedat least on not having received an acknowledgement from the remoteserver during a specific time window.

Clause 45. The apparatus of Clause 43, wherein the computer-executableinstructions, when executed by the one or more processors, furtherconfigure the one or more processors to detect the network outage basedat least on receiving a message from the remote server that a connectionto the remote server is terminated.

Clause 46. The apparatus of Clause 42, wherein the computer-executableinstructions, when executed by the one or more processors, furtherconfigure the one or more processors to determine that the first messagesatisfies the condition based at least on the first message beingassociated with an infusion pump event that is older than a thresholdamount of time.

Clause 47. The apparatus of Clause 42, wherein the computer-executableinstructions, when executed by the one or more processors, furtherconfigure the one or more processors to determine that the first messagesatisfies the condition based at least on the first message being theoldest message in the message queue.

Clause 48. The apparatus of Clause 42, wherein the computer-executableinstructions, when executed by the one or more processors, furtherconfigure the one or more processors to determine that the first messagesatisfies the condition based at least on the message queue being full.

Clause 49. The apparatus of Clause 42, wherein the computer-executableinstructions, when executed by the one or more processors, furtherconfigure the one or more processors to attempt, prior to determiningthat the first message satisfies the condition, to transmit the firstmessage to the remote server, and determine that the first message wasnot received by the remote server.

Clause 50. Non-transitory physical computer storage storingcomputer-executable instructions that, when executed by one or morecomputing devices, configure the one or more computing devices to: causea plurality of messages to be stored in a message queue, wherein theplurality of messages contain information about one or more infusionpumps residing in the clinical environment, the plurality of messagesstored in the message queue including at least a first message and asecond message; cause at least some of the plurality of messages to betransmitted to a remote server configured to receive messages generatedin the clinical environment; subsequent to the transmission, determinethat the first message in the message queue satisfies a condition forbeing removed from the message queue; cause the first message to beremoved from the message queue such that the first message is removedfrom the message queue prior to being received by the remote server; andcause the second message to be transmitted to the remote server suchthat the second message is received by the remote server and the firstmessage is not received by the remote server.

Clause 51. The non-transitory physical computer storage of Clause 50,wherein the computer-executable instructions, when executed by the oneor more computing devices, further configure the one or more computingdevices to detect a network outage that prevents transmission ofmessages to the remote server.

Clause 52. The non-transitory physical computer storage of Clause 50,wherein the computer-executable instructions, when executed by the oneor more computing devices, further configure the one or more computingdevices to determine that the first message satisfies the conditionbased at least on the first message being associated with an infusionpump event that is older than a threshold amount of time.

Clause 53. The non-transitory physical computer storage of Clause 50,wherein the computer-executable instructions, when executed by the oneor more computing devices, further configure the one or more computingdevices to determine that the first message satisfies the conditionbased at least on the first message being the oldest message in themessage queue.

Clause 54. The non-transitory physical computer storage of Clause 50,wherein the computer-executable instructions, when executed by the oneor more computing devices, further configure the one or more computingdevices to attempt, prior to determining that the first messagesatisfies the condition, to transmit the first message to the remoteserver, and determine that the first message was not received by theremote server.

Clause 55. A method for providing messaging in a clinical environment,the method comprising: storing a plurality of messages in a messagequeue, wherein the plurality of messages contain information about oneor more infusion pumps residing in the clinical environment, theplurality of messages stored in the message queue including at least afirst message; transmitting at least some of the plurality of messagesto a remote server configured to receive messages generated in theclinical environment; subsequent to the transmission, detecting atemporary interruption in a network connection to the remote server,wherein the temporary interruption prevents transmission of messages tothe remote server; determining that the first message in the messagequeue does not satisfy a condition for being removed from the messagequeue without being successfully transmitted to the remote server;determining that the temporary interruption has been resolved; andtransmitting the first message to the remote server such that the firstmessage is received by the remote server.

Clause 56. The method of Clause 55, further comprising detecting thetemporary interruption based at least on not having received anacknowledgement from the remote server during a specific time window.

Clause 57. The method of Clause 55, further comprising detecting thetemporary interruption based at least on receiving a message from theremote server that a connection to the remote server is terminated.

Clause 58. The method of Clause 55, further comprising determining thatthe first message does not satisfy the condition based at least on thefirst message being associated with an infusion pump event that is notolder than a threshold amount of time.

Clause 59. The method of Clause 55, further comprising determining thatthe first message does not satisfy the condition based at least on thefirst message not being a time-sensitive message.

Clause 60. The method of Clause 55, further comprising attempting, priorto determining that the first message does not satisfy the condition, totransmit the first message to the remote server, and determining thatthe first message was not received by the remote server.

Clause 61. An apparatus configured to provide messaging in a clinicalenvironment, the apparatus comprising: one or more processors; and oneor more memories in communication with the one or more processors andstoring computer-executable instructions that, when executed by the oneor more processors, configure the one or more processors to: cause aplurality of messages to be stored in a message queue, wherein theplurality of messages contain information about one or more infusionpumps residing in the clinical environment, the plurality of messagesstored in the message queue including at least a first message; cause atleast some of the plurality of messages to be transmitted to a remoteserver configured to receive messages generated in the clinicalenvironment; subsequent to the transmission, determine that the firstmessage in the message queue does not satisfy a condition for beingremoved from the message queue; and cause the first message to betransmitted to the remote server such that the first message is receivedby the remote server.

Clause 62. The apparatus of Clause 61, wherein the computer-executableinstructions, when executed by the one or more processors, furtherconfigure the one or more processors to detect an interruption in anetwork connection between the apparatus and the remote server thatprevents transmission of messages from the apparatus to the remoteserver.

Clause 63. The apparatus of Clause 62, wherein the computer-executableinstructions, when executed by the one or more processors, furtherconfigure the one or more processors to detect the interruption based atleast on not having received an acknowledgement from the remote serverduring a specific time window.

Clause 64. The apparatus of Clause 62, wherein the computer-executableinstructions, when executed by the one or more processors, furtherconfigure the one or more processors to detect the interruption based atleast on receiving a message from the remote server that the networkconnection between the apparatus and the remote server is terminated.

Clause 65. The apparatus of Clause 61, wherein the computer-executableinstructions, when executed by the one or more processors, furtherconfigure the one or more processors to determine that the first messagedoes not satisfy the condition based at least on the first message beingassociated with an infusion pump event that is not older than athreshold amount of time.

Clause 66. The apparatus of Clause 61, wherein the computer-executableinstructions, when executed by the one or more processors, furtherconfigure the one or more processors to determine that the first messagedoes not satisfy the condition based at least on the first message notbeing a time-sensitive message.

Clause 67. The apparatus of Clause 61, wherein the computer-executableinstructions, when executed by the one or more processors, furtherconfigure the one or more processors to attempt, prior to determiningthat the first message does not satisfy the condition, to transmit thefirst message to the remote server, and determine that the first messagewas not received by the remote server.

Clause 68. Non-transitory physical computer storage storingcomputer-executable instructions that, when executed by one or morecomputing devices, configure the one or more computing devices to: causea plurality of messages to be stored in a message queue, wherein theplurality of messages contain information about one or more infusionpumps residing in the clinical environment, the plurality of messagesstored in the message queue including at least a first message; cause atleast some of the plurality of messages to be transmitted to a remoteserver configured to receive messages generated in the clinicalenvironment; subsequent to the transmission, determine that the firstmessage in the message queue does not satisfy a condition for beingremoved from the message queue; and cause the first message to betransmitted to the remote server such that the first message is receivedby the remote server.

Clause 69. The non-transitory physical computer storage of Clause 68,wherein the computer-executable instructions, when executed by the oneor more computing devices, further configure the one or more computingdevices to detect an interruption in a network connection to the remoteserver that prevents transmission of messages to the remote server.

Clause 70. The non-transitory physical computer storage of Clause 69,wherein the computer-executable instructions, when executed by the oneor more computing devices, further configure the one or more computingdevices to detect the interruption based at least on not having receivedan acknowledgement from the remote server during a specific time window.

Clause 71. The non-transitory physical computer storage of Clause 69,wherein the computer-executable instructions, when executed by the oneor more computing devices, further configure the one or more computingdevices to detect the interruption based at least on receiving a messagefrom the remote server that the network connection to the remote serveris terminated.

Clause 72. The non-transitory physical computer storage of Clause 68,wherein the computer-executable instructions, when executed by the oneor more computing devices, further configure the one or more computingdevices to determine that the first message does not satisfy thecondition based at least on the first message being associated with aninfusion pump event that is not older than a threshold amount of time.

Clause 73. The non-transitory physical computer storage of Clause 68,wherein the computer-executable instructions, when executed by the oneor more computing devices, further configure the one or more computingdevices to determine that the first message does not satisfy thecondition based at least on the first message not being a time-sensitivemessage.

Clause 74. The non-transitory physical computer storage of Clause 68,wherein the computer-executable instructions, when executed by the oneor more computing devices, further configure the one or more computingdevices to attempt, prior to determining that the first message does notsatisfy the condition, to transmit the first message to the remoteserver, and determine that the first message was not received by theremote server.

Clause 75. A method for detecting missing messages from a clinicalenvironment, the method comprising: processing a plurality of messagesfrom a network device residing in the clinical environment, wherein theplurality of messages contain information about one or more infusionpumps residing in the clinical environment, wherein the plurality ofmessages includes a first message having a first message identifiervalue and a second message having a second message identifier value;determining that one or more messages are missing between the firstmessage and the second message based on (i) receiving the second messageafter the first message without receiving any other message therebetweenand (ii) determining that there is at least one message identifier valuebetween the first message identifier value and the second messageidentifier value in a predetermined sequence; and transmitting a messagerequest to the network device residing in the clinical environment,wherein the message request identifies the one or more messages thatshould have been received from the network device but have not beenreceived.

Clause 76. The method of Clause 75, further comprising, in response tothe message request, receiving one or more additional messages from thenetwork device, wherein the one or more messages include informationthat would have been included in the one or more messages.

Clause 77. The method of Clause 76, further comprising updating, basedat least on the one or more additional messages received in response tothe message request, a cache to include additional information about theone or more infusion pumps residing in the clinical environment.

Clause 78. The method of Clause 75, further comprising causing thenetwork device to request additional information from the one or moreinfusion pumps that would have been included in the one or moremessages.

Clause 79. The method of Clause 75, further comprising, in response todetermining that the one or more messages has reached a threshold count,transmitting the message request to the network device residing in theclinical environment.

Clause 80. A system configured to detect missing messages from aclinical environment, the system comprising: one or more processors; andone or more memories in communication with the one or more processorsand storing computer-executable instructions that, when executed by theone or more processors, configure the one or more processors to: processa plurality of messages from a network device residing in the clinicalenvironment, wherein the plurality of messages contain information aboutone or more infusion pumps residing in the clinical environment; detectone or more missing messages that should have been received from thenetwork device but have not been received; and cause a message requestto be transmitted to the network device residing in the clinicalenvironment, wherein the message request identifies the one or moremissing messages that should have been received from the network devicebut have not been received.

Clause 81. The system of Clause 80, wherein the computer-executableinstructions, when executed by the one or more processors, furtherconfigure the one or more processors to receive, in response to themessage request, one or more additional messages from the networkdevice, wherein the one or more messages include information that wouldhave been included in the one or more missing messages.

Clause 82. The system of Clause 81, wherein the computer-executableinstructions, when executed by the one or more processors, furtherconfigure the one or more processors to cause, based at least on the oneor more additional messages received in response to the message request,a cache to be updated to include additional information about the one ormore infusion pumps residing in the clinical environment.

Clause 83. The system of Clause 80, wherein the computer-executableinstructions, when executed by the one or more processors, furtherconfigure the one or more processors to detect the one or more missingmessages based at least on message identifier information associatedwith one or more of the plurality of messages.

Clause 84. The system of Clause 80, wherein the computer-executableinstructions, when executed by the one or more processors, furtherconfigure the one or more processors to detect the one or more missingmessages based at least on a first message in the plurality of messageshaving a message identifier that does not immediately follow anothermessage identifier of a second message of the plurality of messages thatimmediately follows the first message.

Clause 85. The system of Clause 80, wherein the computer-executableinstructions, when executed by the one or more processors, furtherconfigure the one or more processors to cause the network device torequest additional information from the one or more infusion pumps thatwould have been included in the one or more missing messages.

Clause 86. The system of Clause 80, wherein the computer-executableinstructions, when executed by the one or more processors, furtherconfigure the one or more processors to cause, in response todetermining that the one or more missing messages has reached athreshold count, the message request to be transmitted to the networkdevice residing in the clinical environment.

Clause 87. The system of Clause 80, wherein the message request includesa flag having a value indicating that the message request is a logretrieval request and not live data.

Clause 88. Non-transitory physical computer storage storingcomputer-executable instructions that, when executed by one or morecomputing devices, configure the one or more computing devices to:process a plurality of messages from a network device residing in theclinical environment, wherein the plurality of messages containinformation about one or more infusion pumps residing in the clinicalenvironment; detect one or more missing messages that should have beenreceived from the network device but have not been received; and cause amessage request to be transmitted to the network device residing in theclinical environment, wherein the message request identifies the one ormore missing messages that should have been received from the networkdevice but have not been received.

Clause 89. The non-transitory physical computer storage of Clause 88,wherein the computer-executable instructions, when executed by the oneor more computing devices, further configure the one or more computingdevices to receive, in response to the message request, one or moreadditional messages from the network device, wherein the one or moremessages include information that would have been included in the one ormore missing messages.

Clause 90. The non-transitory physical computer storage of Clause 89,wherein the computer-executable instructions, when executed by the oneor more computing devices, further configure the one or more computingdevices to cause, based at least on the one or more additional messagesreceived in response to the message request, a cache to be updated toinclude additional information about the one or more infusion pumpsresiding in the clinical environment.

Clause 91. The non-transitory physical computer storage of Clause 88,wherein the computer-executable instructions, when executed by the oneor more computing devices, further configure the one or more computingdevices to detect the one or more missing messages based at least onmessage identifier information associated with one or more of theplurality of messages.

Clause 92. The non-transitory physical computer storage of Clause 88,wherein the computer-executable instructions, when executed by the oneor more computing devices, further configure the one or more computingdevices to detect the one or more missing messages based at least on afirst message in the plurality of messages having a message identifierthat does not immediately follow another message identifier of a secondmessage of the plurality of messages that immediately follows the firstmessage.

Clause 93. The non-transitory physical computer storage of Clause 88,wherein the computer-executable instructions, when executed by the oneor more computing devices, further configure the one or more computingdevices to cause the network device to request additional informationfrom the one or more infusion pumps that would have been included in theone or more missing messages.

Clause 94. The non-transitory physical computer storage of Clause 88,wherein the computer-executable instructions, when executed by the oneor more computing devices, further configure the one or more computingdevices to cause, in response to determining that the one or moremissing messages has reached a threshold count, the message request tobe transmitted to the network device residing in the clinicalenvironment.

Clause 95. A method for generating a user interface based on messagesfrom a clinical environment, the method comprising: processing a messagefrom a network device residing in the clinical environment, wherein themessage includes information about one or more infusion pumps incommunication with the network device in the clinical environment;determining that the information included in the message satisfies acondition for updating a cache to include at least some of theinformation included in the message, wherein the cache storesinformation usable to generate user interfaces in response to a requestfrom a computing device residing in the clinical environment; updatingthe cache to include at least some of the information included in themessage from the network device; receiving a request for a userinterface from the computing device residing in the clinicalenvironment; accessing, from the updated cache, user interfaceinformation to be used to generate the user interface, wherein the userinterface information includes at least some of the information that thecache was updated to include; and outputting instructions for displayingthe user interface on the computing device, wherein the instructions arebased at least on the user interface information accessed from theupdated cache.

Clause 96. The method of Clause 95, wherein the message includesinformation indicating a current state of the one or more infusionpumps.

Clause 97. The method of Clause 95, wherein the cache stores informationassociated with two or more infusion pumps residing in different medicalfacilities.

Clause 98. The method of Clause 95, wherein the user interfaceinformation includes user interface data previously generated and storedin the cache.

Clause 99. The method of Clause 95, further comprising updating userinterface data stored in the cache, and outputting the instructionsbased at least on the updated user interface data.

Clause 100. The method of Clause 95, wherein the condition is satisfiedbased on the information in the message being usable to generate one ormore user interfaces in response to a request from the clinicalenvironment.

Clause 101. The method of Clause 95, further comprising causing the userinterface to be outputted on a display of the computing device.

Clause 102. A system configured to detect missing messages from aclinical environment, the system comprising: one or more processors; andone or more memories in communication with the one or more processorsand storing computer-executable instructions that, when executed by theone or more processors, configure the one or more processors to: processa message from a network device residing in the clinical environment,wherein the message includes information about one or more infusionpumps in communication with the network device in the clinicalenvironment; determine that the information included in the messagesatisfies a condition for updating a cache to include at least some ofthe information included in the message, wherein the cache storesinformation usable to generate user interfaces in response to a requestfrom a computing device residing in the clinical environment; cause thecache to be updated to include at least some of information included inthe message from the network device; process a request for a userinterface from the computing device residing in the clinicalenvironment; access, from the updated cache, user interface informationto be used to generate the user interface, wherein the user interfaceinformation includes at least some of the information that the cache wasupdated to include; and output instructions for displaying the userinterface on the computing device, wherein the instructions are based atleast on the user interface information accessed from the updated cache.

Clause 103. The system of Clause 102, wherein the message includesinformation indicating a current state of the one or more infusionpumps.

Clause 104. The system of Clause 102, wherein the cache is configured tostore information associated with two or more infusion pumps residing indifferent medical facilities.

Clause 105. The system of Clause 102, wherein the user interfaceinformation includes user interface data previously generated and storedin the cache.

Clause 106. The system of Clause 102, wherein the computer-executableinstructions, when executed by the one or more processors, furtherconfigure the one or more processors to cause user interface data storedin the cache to be updated, and output the instructions based at leaston the updated user interface data.

Clause 107. The system of Clause 102, wherein the condition is satisfiedbased on the information in the message being usable to generate one ormore user interfaces in response to a request from the clinicalenvironment.

Clause 108. The system of Clause 102, wherein the computer-executableinstructions, when executed by the one or more processors, furtherconfigure the one or more processors to cause the user interface to beoutputted on a display of the computing device.

Clause 109. Non-transitory physical computer storage storingcomputer-executable instructions that, when executed by one or morecomputing devices, configure the one or more computing devices to:process a message from a network device residing in the clinicalenvironment, wherein the message includes information about one or moreinfusion pumps in communication with the network device in the clinicalenvironment; determine that the information included in the messagesatisfies a condition for updating a cache to include at least some ofthe information included in the message, wherein the cache storesinformation usable to generate user interfaces in response to a requestfrom a computing device residing in the clinical environment; cause thecache to be updated to include at least some of information included inthe message from the network device; process a request for a userinterface from the computing device residing in the clinicalenvironment; access, from the updated cache, user interface informationto be used to generate the user interface, wherein the user interfaceinformation includes at least some of the information that the cache wasupdated to include; and output instructions for displaying the userinterface on the computing device, wherein the instructions are based atleast on the user interface information accessed from the updated cache.

Clause 110. The non-transitory physical computer storage of Clause 109,wherein the message includes information indicating a current state ofthe one or more infusion pumps.

Clause 111. The non-transitory physical computer storage of Clause 109,wherein the cache is configured to store information associated with twoor more infusion pumps residing in different medical facilities.

Clause 112. The non-transitory physical computer storage of Clause 109,wherein the user interface information includes user interface datapreviously generated and stored in the cache.

Clause 113. The non-transitory physical computer storage of Clause 109,wherein the computer-executable instructions, when executed by the oneor more computing devices, further configure the one or more computingdevices to cause user interface data stored in the cache to be updated,and output the instructions based at least on the updated user interfacedata.

Clause 114. The non-transitory physical computer storage of Clause 109,wherein the condition is satisfied based on the information in themessage being usable to generate one or more user interfaces in responseto a request from the clinical environment.

Clause 115. A method for converting messages having one message formatfrom infusion pumps residing in a clinical environment into messageshaving another message format, the method comprising: detecting a firstpump protocol used by one or more infusion pumps in the clinicalenvironment, the first pump protocol defining the first message format;generating a message converter configured to convert a pump messagehaving the first message format into a standardized dataset messagehaving a second message format different from the first message formatand including at least some additional data or metadata not included inthe pump message; receiving a first pump message from an infusion pumpin the clinical environment, wherein the infusion pump is configured togenerate pump messages using the first pump protocol; converting thefirst pump message into a standardized dataset message having the secondmessage format using the message converter, wherein the standardizeddataset message includes information associated with the infusion pumpand includes at least some additional data or metadata not included inthe first pump message; and transmitting the standardized datasetmessage to a remote server configured to receive standardized datasetmessages.

Clause 116. The method of Clause 115, wherein the standardized datasetmessage includes one or more key-value pairs that are not included inthe first pump message.

Clause 117. The method of Clause 116, wherein the one or more key-valuepairs are each set to a default value or a null value.

Clause 118. The method of Clause 115, wherein the standardized datasetmessage includes identification data that identifies one or moreportions of the standardized dataset message that include newinformation.

Clause 119. The method of Clause 115, further comprising detecting thefirst pump protocol based on a protocol identifier associated with thefirst pump protocol not being on a predetermined list of protocolidentifiers.

Clause 120. The method of Clause 119, further comprising subsequent todetecting the first pump protocol, adding the protocol identifierassociated with the first pump protocol to the predetermined list ofprotocol identifiers.

Clause 121. The method of Clause 115, wherein the message convertercomprises a software module that is configured to receive a pump messagein the first pump protocol as input and output a standardized datasetmessage based on the pump message.

Clause 122. The method of Clause 115, wherein the message converter is aconfiguration file downloaded from the remote server.

Clause 123. An apparatus configured to convert messages having onemessage format from infusion pumps residing in a clinical environmentinto messages having another message format, the apparatus comprising:one or more processors; and one or more memories in communication withthe one or more processors and storing computer-executable instructionsthat, when executed by the one or more processors, configure the one ormore processors to: detect a first pump protocol used by one or moreinfusion pumps in the clinical environment, the first pump protocoldefining a first message format; generate a message converter configuredto convert a pump message having the first message format into anothermessage having a second message format different from the first messageformat and including at least some additional data or metadata notincluded in the pump message; receive a first message from an infusionpump in the clinical environment, wherein the infusion pump isconfigured to generate messages using the first pump protocol; cause thefirst message to be converted into a second message having the secondmessage format using the message converter, wherein the second messageincludes information associated with the infusion pump and includes atleast some additional data or metadata not included in the firstmessage; and cause the second message to be transmitted to a remoteserver configured to receive messages having the second message format.

Clause 124. The apparatus of Clause 123, wherein the second messageincludes one or more key-value pairs that are not included in the firstmessage.

Clause 125. The apparatus of Clause 124, wherein the one or morekey-value pairs are each set to a default value or a null value.

Clause 126. The apparatus of Clause 123, wherein the second messageincludes identification data that identifies one or more portions of thesecond message that include new information.

Clause 127. The apparatus of Clause 123, wherein the computer-executableinstructions, when executed by the one or more processors, furtherconfigure the one or more processors to detect the first pump protocolbased on a protocol identifier associated with the first pump protocolnot being on a predetermined list of protocol identifiers.

Clause 128. The apparatus of Clause 123, wherein the computer-executableinstructions, when executed by the one or more processors, furtherconfigure the one or more processors to, subsequent to detecting thefirst pump protocol, cause the protocol identifier associated with thefirst pump protocol to be added to the predetermined list of protocolidentifiers.

Clause 129. The apparatus of Clause 123, wherein the message convertercomprises a software module that is configured to receive a pump messagehaving the first message format as input and output another messagehaving the second message format based on the pump message.

Clause 130. The apparatus of Clause 123, wherein the message converteris a configuration file downloaded from the remote server.

Clause 131. Non-transitory physical computer storage storingcomputer-executable instructions that, when executed by one or morecomputing devices, configure the one or more computing devices to:detect a first pump protocol used by one or more infusion pumps in theclinical environment, the first pump protocol defining a first messageformat; generate a message converter configured to convert a pumpmessage having the first message format into another message having asecond message format different from the first message format andincluding at least some additional data or metadata not included in thepump message; receive a first message from an infusion pump in theclinical environment, wherein the infusion pump is configured togenerate messages using the first pump protocol; cause the first messageto be converted into a second message having the second message formatusing the message converter, wherein the second message includesinformation associated with the infusion pump and includes at least someadditional data or metadata not included in the first message; and causethe second message to be transmitted to a remote server configured toreceive messages having the second message format.

Clause 132. The non-transitory physical computer storage of Clause 131,wherein the second message includes one or more key-value pairs that arenot included in the first message, the one or more key-value pairs eachhaving a default value or a null value.

Clause 133. The non-transitory physical computer storage of Clause 131,wherein the computer-executable instructions, when executed by the oneor more computing devices, further configure the one or more computingdevices to detect the first pump protocol based on a protocol identifierassociated with the first pump protocol not being on a predeterminedlist of protocol identifiers, and subsequent to detecting the first pumpprotocol, cause the protocol identifier associated with the first pumpprotocol to be added to the predetermined list of protocol identifiers.

Clause 134. The non-transitory physical computer storage of Clause 131,wherein the message converter comprises a software module that isdownloaded from the remote server, the message converter beingconfigured to receive a pump message having the first message format asinput and output another message having the second message format basedon the pump message.

Clause 135. A method for authenticating a network device residing in aclinical environment using a token, the method comprising: processing anauthentication request from the network device residing in the clinicalenvironment via a first network connection, wherein the authenticationrequest includes identifying information associated with the clinicalenvironment, and wherein the clinical environment includes one or moreinfusion pumps in communication with the network device; identifyinglogin credentials to be used to authenticate the network device residingin the clinical environment; transmitting the login credentials to anauthentication system configured to authenticate requests from thenetwork device residing in the clinical environment via a second networkconnection different from the first network connection; receiving asecurity token from the authentication system, the security token beingusable by the network device to transmit requests to the authenticationsystem via the second network connection; and transmitting the securitytoken to the network device residing in the clinical environment via thefirst network connection.

Clause 136. The method of Clause 135, wherein the first networkconnection is a WebSocket connection.

Clause 137. The method of Clause 135, wherein the first networkconnection is secured and authenticated.

Clause 138. The method of Clause 135, further comprising causing thenetwork device residing in the clinical environment to transmit a signedrequest to the authentication system.

Clause 139. The method of Clause 135, wherein the first networkconnection and the second network connection are both established over awide area network.

Clause 140. The method of Clause 135, further comprising receiving amessage from the network device residing in the clinical environment viathe first network connection, wherein the messages include informationassociated with the one or more infusion pumps in communication with thenetwork device.

Clause 141. The method of Clause 140, wherein the network device isconfigured to communicate with the one or more infusion pumps over alocal area network.

Clause 142. A system configured to authenticate a network deviceresiding in a clinical environment using a token, the system comprising:one or more processors; and one or more memories in communication withthe one or more processors and storing computer-executable instructionsthat, when executed by the one or more processors, configure the one ormore processors to: process an authentication request from the networkdevice residing in the clinical environment via a first networkconnection, wherein the authentication request includes identifyinginformation associated with the clinical environment, and wherein theclinical environment includes one or more infusion pumps incommunication with the network device; identify login credentials to beused to authenticate the network device residing in the clinicalenvironment; cause the login credentials to be transmitted to anauthentication system configured to authenticate requests from thenetwork device residing in the clinical environment via a second networkconnection different from the first network connection; receive asecurity token from the authentication system, the security token beingusable by the network device to transmit requests to the authenticationsystem via the second network connection; and cause the security tokento be transmitted to the network device residing in the clinicalenvironment via the first network connection.

Clause 143. The system of Clause 142, wherein the first networkconnection is a WebSocket connection.

Clause 144. The system of Clause 142, wherein the first networkconnection is secured and authenticated.

Clause 145. The system of Clause 142, wherein the computer-executableinstructions, when executed by the one or more processors, furtherconfigure the one or more processors to cause the network deviceresiding in the clinical environment to transmit a signed request to theauthentication system.

Clause 146. The system of Clause 142, wherein the first networkconnection and the second network connection are both established over awide area network.

Clause 147. The system of Clause 142, wherein the computer-executableinstructions, when executed by the one or more processors, furtherconfigure the one or more processors to receive a message from thenetwork device residing in the clinical environment via the firstnetwork connection, wherein the messages include information associatedwith the one or more infusion pumps in communication with the networkdevice.

Clause 148. The system of Clause 147, wherein the network device isconfigured to communicate with the one or more infusion pumps over alocal area network.

Clause 149. Non-transitory physical computer storage storingcomputer-executable instructions that, when executed by one or morecomputing devices, configure the one or more computing devices to:process an authentication request from the network device residing inthe clinical environment via a first network connection, wherein theauthentication request includes identifying information associated withthe clinical environment, and wherein the clinical environment includesone or more infusion pumps in communication with the network device;identify login credentials to be used to authenticate the network deviceresiding in the clinical environment; cause the login credentials to betransmitted to an authentication system configured to authenticaterequests from the network device residing in the clinical environmentvia a second network connection different from the first networkconnection; receive a security token from the authentication system, thesecurity token being usable by the network device to transmit requeststo the authentication system via the second network connection; andcause the security token to be transmitted to the network deviceresiding in the clinical environment via the first network connection.

Clause 150. The non-transitory physical computer storage of Clause 149,wherein the first network connection is a secured and authenticatedWebSocket connection.

Clause 151. The non-transitory physical computer storage of Clause 149,wherein the computer-executable instructions, when executed by the oneor more computing devices, further configure the one or more computingdevices to cause the network device residing in the clinical environmentto transmit a signed request to the authentication system.

Clause 152. The non-transitory physical computer storage of Clause 149,wherein the first network connection and the second network connectionare both established over a wide area network.

Clause 153. The non-transitory physical computer storage of Clause 149,wherein the computer-executable instructions, when executed by the oneor more computing devices, further configure the one or more computingdevices to receive a message from the network device residing in theclinical environment via the first network connection, wherein themessages include information associated with the one or more infusionpumps in communication with the network device.

Clause 154. The non-transitory physical computer storage of Clause 149,wherein the condition is satisfied based on the information in themessage being usable to generate one or more user interfaces in responseto a request from the clinical environment.

Clause 155. A method for tagging messages from infusion pumps residingin a clinical environment, the method comprising: processing a pumpmessage including information about an infusion pump residing in theclinical environment; tagging the pump message with a facilityidentifier indicative of a facility associated with the infusion pumpand an account identifier indicative of an account associated with theinfusion pump, wherein the facility is below the account in ahierarchical structure, and wherein the hierarchical structure includesone or more intermediate levels that are between the facility and theaccount in the hierarchical structure; and transmitting the tagged pumpmessage to a remote server such that the facility identifier of thetagged pump message and the account identifier of the tagged messageneed not be changed by the remote server in response to the facilitybeing moved within the hierarchical structure.

Clause 156. The method of Clause 155, wherein the facility identifierand the account identifier are permanent identifiers that are notchanged in response to the facility being moved to another system orregion in the hierarchical structure.

Clause 157. The method of Clause 155, wherein the infusion pump isconfigured to generate pump messages without determining the facilityassociated with the infusion pump or the account associated with theinfusion pump.

Clause 158. The method of Clause 155, further comprising determining, ina priority order, whether one or more facility detection indicatorscorrespond to one of a plurality of facility identifiers stored in adatabase.

Clause 159. The method of Clause 158, further comprising, in response todetermining that none of the one or more facility detection indicatorscorresponds to any of the plurality of facility identifiers stored inthe database, tagging the pump message with a default facilityidentifier indicating that the pump message originated from an infusionpump that is not associated with a known facility.

Clause 160. The method of Clause 155, further comprising tagging thepump message with a first intermediate identifier indicative of a firstintermediate level of the one or more intermediate levels such that thetagged pump message includes the facility identifier, the accountidentifier, and the first intermediate identifier.

Clause 161. The method of Clause 160, in response to determining thatthe facility is no longer associated with the first intermediate levelin the hierarchical structure, updating the first intermediateidentifier, such that the tagged pump message includes the updated firstintermediate identifier.

Clause 162. The method of Clause 155, wherein processing the pumpmessage comprises converting a message in a first format received fromthe infusion pump into the pump message in a second format differentfrom the first format.

Clause 163. An apparatus configured to tag messages from infusion pumpsresiding in a clinical environment, the apparatus comprising: one ormore processors; and one or more memories in communication with the oneor more processors and storing computer-executable instructions that,when executed by the one or more processors, configure the one or moreprocessors to: process a pump message including information about aninfusion pump residing in the clinical environment; cause the pumpmessage to be tagged with a facility identifier indicative of a facilityassociated with the infusion pump and an account identifier indicativeof an account associated with the infusion pump, wherein the facility isbelow the account in a hierarchical structure, and wherein the messageis not tagged with at least one other identifier indicative of anintermediate level that is between the facility and the account in thehierarchical structure; and cause the tagged pump message to betransmitted to a remote server such that the facility identifier of thetagged pump message and the account identifier of the tagged messageneed not be changed by the remote server in response to the facilitybeing moved within the hierarchical structure.

Clause 164. The apparatus of Clause 163, wherein the facility identifierand the account identifier are permanent identifiers that are notchanged in response to the facility being moved within the hierarchicalstructure.

Clause 165. The apparatus of Clause 163, wherein the facility identifierand the account identifier are permanent identifiers that are notchanged in response to the facility being moved to another system orregion in the hierarchical structure.

Clause 166. The apparatus of Clause 163, wherein the infusion pump isconfigured to generate pump messages without determining the facilityassociated with the infusion pump or the account associated with theinfusion pump.

Clause 167. The apparatus of Clause 163, wherein the computer-executableinstructions further configure the one or more processors to cause thepump message to be tagged with a first intermediate identifierindicative of a first intermediate level of the one or more intermediatelevels such that the tagged pump message includes the facilityidentifier, the account identifier, and the first intermediateidentifier.

Clause 168. The apparatus of Clause 167, wherein the computer-executableinstructions further configure the one or more processors to, inresponse to determining that the facility is no longer associated withthe first intermediate level in the hierarchical structure, cause thefirst intermediate identifier to be updated, such that the tagged pumpmessage includes the updated first intermediate identifier.

Clause 169. The apparatus of Clause 163, wherein processing the pumpmessage comprises converting a message in a first format received fromthe infusion pump into the pump message in a second format differentfrom the first format.

Clause 170. Non-transitory physical computer storage storingcomputer-executable instructions that, when executed by one or morecomputing devices, configure the one or more computing devices to:process a pump message including information about an infusion pumpresiding in the clinical environment; cause the pump message to betagged with a facility identifier indicative of a facility associatedwith the infusion pump and an account identifier indicative of anaccount associated with the infusion pump, wherein the facility is belowthe account in a hierarchical structure, and wherein the message is nottagged with at least one other identifier indicative of an intermediatelevel that is between the facility and the account in the hierarchicalstructure; and cause the tagged pump message to be transmitted to aremote server such that the facility identifier of the tagged pumpmessage and the account identifier of the tagged message need not bechanged by the remote server in response to the facility being movedwithin the hierarchical structure.

Clause 171. The non-transitory physical computer storage of Clause 170,wherein the facility identifier and the account identifier are permanentidentifiers that are not changed in response to the facility being movedto another system or region in the hierarchical structure.

Clause 172. The non-transitory physical computer storage of Clause 170,wherein the infusion pump is configured to generate pump messageswithout determining the facility associated with the infusion pump orthe account associated with the infusion pump.

Clause 173. The non-transitory physical computer storage of Clause 170,wherein the intermediate level in the hierarchical structure is a systemassociated with the infusion pump or a region associated with theinfusion pump.

Clause 174. The non-transitory physical computer storage of Clause 170,wherein processing the pump message comprises converting a message in afirst format received from the infusion pump into the pump message in asecond format different from the first format.

OTHER CONSIDERATIONS

It is to be understood that not necessarily all objects or advantagesmay be achieved in accordance with any particular embodiment describedherein. Thus, for example, those skilled in the art will recognize thatcertain embodiments may be configured to operate in a manner thatachieves or optimizes one advantage or group of advantages as taughtherein without necessarily achieving other objects or advantages as maybe taught or suggested herein.

Many other variations than those described herein will be apparent fromthis disclosure. For example, depending on the embodiment, certain acts,events, or functions of any of the algorithms described herein can beperformed in a different sequence, can be added, merged, or left outaltogether (e.g., not all described acts or events are necessary for thepractice of the algorithms). Moreover, in certain embodiments, acts orevents can be performed concurrently, e.g., through multi-threadedprocessing, interrupt processing, or multiple processors or processorcores or on other parallel architectures, rather than sequentially. Inaddition, different tasks or processes can be performed by differentmachines and/or computing systems that can function together.

The various illustrative logical blocks, modules, and algorithm elementsdescribed in connection with the embodiments disclosed herein can beimplemented as electronic hardware, computer software, or combinationsof both. To clearly illustrate this interchangeability of hardware andsoftware, various illustrative components, blocks, modules, and elementshave been described above generally in terms of their functionality.Whether such functionality is implemented as hardware or softwaredepends upon the particular application and design constraints imposedon the overall system. The described functionality can be implemented invarying ways for each particular application, but such implementationdecisions should not be interpreted as causing a departure from thescope of the disclosure.

The various illustrative logical blocks and modules described inconnection with the embodiments disclosed herein can be implemented orperformed by a machine, such as a general purpose processor, a digitalsignal processor (DSP), an application specific integrated circuit(ASIC), a field programmable gate array (FPGA) or other programmablelogic device, discrete gate or transistor logic, discrete hardwarecomponents, or any combination thereof designed to perform the functionsdescribed herein. A general-purpose processor can be a microprocessor,but in the alternative, the processor can be a controller,microcontroller, or state machine, combinations of the same, or thelike. A processor can include electrical circuitry configured to processcomputer-executable instructions. In another embodiment, a processorincludes an FPGA or other programmable device that performs logicoperations without processing computer-executable instructions. Aprocessor can also be implemented as a combination of computing devices,e.g., a combination of a DSP and a microprocessor, a plurality ofmicroprocessors, one or more microprocessors in conjunction with a DSPcore, or any other such configuration. Although described hereinprimarily with respect to digital technology, a processor may alsoinclude primarily analog components. For example, some or all of thesignal processing algorithms described herein may be implemented inanalog circuitry or mixed analog and digital circuitry. A computingenvironment can include any type of computer system, including, but notlimited to, a computer system based on a microprocessor, a mainframecomputer, a digital signal processor, a portable computing device, adevice controller, or a computational engine within an appliance, toname a few.

The elements of a method, process, or algorithm described in connectionwith the embodiments disclosed herein can be embodied directly inhardware, in a software module stored in one or more memory devices andexecuted by one or more processors, or in a combination of the two. Asoftware module can reside in RAM memory, flash memory, ROM memory,EPROM memory, EEPROM memory, registers, hard disk, a removable disk, aCD-ROM, or any other form of non-transitory computer-readable storagemedium, media, or physical computer storage known in the art. An examplestorage medium can be coupled to the processor such that the processorcan read information from, and write information to, the storage medium.In the alternative, the storage medium can be integral to the processor.The storage medium can be volatile or nonvolatile. The processor and thestorage medium can reside in an ASIC. The ASIC can reside in a userterminal. In the alternative, the processor and the storage medium canreside as discrete components in a user terminal.

Conditional language used herein, such as, among others, “can,” “might,”“may,” “e.g.,” and the like, unless specifically stated otherwise, orotherwise understood within the context as used, is generally intendedto convey that certain embodiments include, while other embodiments donot include, certain features, elements, and/or states. Thus, suchconditional language is not generally intended to imply that features,elements and/or states are in any way required for one or moreembodiments or that one or more embodiments necessarily include logicfor deciding, with or without author input or prompting, whether thesefeatures, elements and/or states are included or are to be performed inany particular embodiment. The terms “comprising,” “including,”“having,” and the like are synonymous and are used inclusively, in anopen-ended fashion, and do not exclude additional elements, features,acts, operations, and so forth. Also, the term “or” is used in itsinclusive sense (and not in its exclusive sense) so that when used, forexample, to connect a list of elements, the term “or” means one, some,or all of the elements in the list. Further, the term “each,” as usedherein, in addition to having its ordinary meaning, can mean any subsetof a set of elements to which the term “each” is applied.

Disjunctive language such as the phrase “at least one of X, Y, or Z,”unless specifically stated otherwise, is otherwise understood with thecontext as used in general to present that an item, term, etc., may beeither X, Y, or Z, or any combination thereof (e.g., X, Y, and/or Z).Thus, such disjunctive language is not generally intended to, and shouldnot, imply that certain embodiments require at least one of X, at leastone of Y, or at least one of Z to each be present.

Unless otherwise explicitly stated, articles such as “a”, “an”, or “the”should generally be interpreted to include one or more described items.Accordingly, phrases such as “a device configured to” are intended toinclude one or more recited devices. Such one or more recited devicescan also be collectively configured to carry out the stated recitations.For example, “a processor configured to carry out recitations A, B, andC” can include a first processor configured to carry out recitation Aworking in conjunction with a second processor configured to carry outrecitations B and C.

While the above detailed description has shown, described, and pointedout novel features as applied to various embodiments, it will beunderstood that various omissions, substitutions, and changes in theform and details of the devices or algorithms illustrated can be madewithout departing from the spirit of the disclosure. As will berecognized, certain embodiments described herein can be implementedwithin a form that does not provide all of the features and benefits setforth herein, as some features can be used or practiced separately fromothers. All such modifications and variations are intended to beincluded herein within the scope of this disclosure. Further, additionalembodiments created by combining any two or more features or techniquesof one or more embodiments described herein are also intended to beincluded herein within the scope of this disclosure.

What is claimed is:
 1. A method for detecting missing messages from aclinical environment, the method comprising: processing a plurality ofmessages from a network device residing in the clinical environment andin communication with a plurality of infusion pumps residing in theclinical environment, wherein the plurality of messages containinformation about one or more infusion pumps of the plurality ofinfusion pumps residing in the clinical environment, wherein theplurality of messages includes (i) a first message having a firstmessage identifier value and first information about a first infusionpump of the plurality of infusion pumps in the clinical environment and(ii) a second message having a second message identifier value andsecond information about the first infusion pump in the clinicalenvironment; subsequent to processing the first message and the secondmessage from the network device, determining that one or more messagesare missing between the first message and the second message based onthere being at least one message identifier value between the firstmessage identifier value and the second message identifier value in apredetermined sequence; and generating a message request including theat least one message identifier value usable by the network device torequest missing information from the first infusion pump in the clinicalenvironment and a flag indicating that the message request is forretrieving one or more missing messages.
 2. The method of claim 1,further comprising, in response to the message request, receiving one ormore additional messages from the network device, wherein the one ormore messages include information that would have been included in theone or more messages.
 3. The method of claim 2, further comprisingupdating, based at least on the one or more additional messages receivedin response to the message request, a cache to include additionalinformation about the one or more infusion pumps residing in theclinical environment.
 4. The method of claim 1, further comprisingcausing the network device to request additional information from theone or more infusion pumps that would have been included in the one ormore messages.
 5. The method of claim 1, further comprising, in responseto determining that the one or more messages has reached a thresholdcount, transmitting the message request to the network device residingin the clinical environment.
 6. A system configured to detect missingmessages from a clinical environment, the system comprising: one or moreprocessors; and one or more memories in communication with the one ormore processors and storing computer-executable instructions that, whenexecuted by the one or more processors, configure the one or moreprocessors to: process a plurality of messages from a network deviceresiding in the clinical environment and in communication with aplurality of infusion pumps residing in the clinical environment,wherein the plurality of messages contain information about one or moreinfusion pumps of the plurality of infusion pumps residing in theclinical environment; subsequent to processing the plurality of messagesfrom the network device, detect one or more missing messages that shouldhave been received from the network device but have not been received;and cause a message request to be generated, wherein the message requestincludes at least one message identifier value usable by the networkdevice to request, from the one or more infusion pumps in the clinicalenvironment, missing information that would have been contained in theone or more missing messages and a flag indicating that the messagerequest is for retrieving the one or more missing messages.
 7. Thesystem of claim 6, wherein the computer-executable instructions, whenexecuted by the one or more processors, further configure the one ormore processors to receive, in response to the message request, one ormore additional messages from the network device, wherein the one ormore messages include information that would have been included in theone or more missing messages.
 8. The system of claim 7, wherein thecomputer-executable instructions, when executed by the one or moreprocessors, further configure the one or more processors to cause, basedat least on the one or more additional messages received in response tothe message request, a cache to be updated to include additionalinformation about the one or more infusion pumps residing in theclinical environment.
 9. The system of claim 6, wherein thecomputer-executable instructions, when executed by the one or moreprocessors, further configure the one or more processors to detect theone or more missing messages based at least on message identifierinformation associated with one or more of the plurality of messages.10. The system of claim 6, wherein the computer-executable instructions,when executed by the one or more processors, further configure the oneor more processors to detect the one or more missing messages based atleast on a first message in the plurality of messages having a messageidentifier that does not immediately follow another message identifierof a second message of the plurality of messages that immediatelyfollows the first message.
 11. The system of claim 6, wherein thecomputer-executable instructions, when executed by the one or moreprocessors, further configure the one or more processors to cause thenetwork device to request additional information from the one or moreinfusion pumps that would have been included in the one or more missingmessages.
 12. The system of claim 6, wherein the computer-executableinstructions, when executed by the one or more processors, furtherconfigure the one or more processors to cause, in response todetermining that the one or more missing messages has reached athreshold count, the message request to be transmitted to the networkdevice residing in the clinical environment.
 13. The system of claim 6,wherein the message request includes a flag having a value indicatingthat the message request is a log retrieval request and not live data.14. Non-transitory physical computer storage storing computer-executableinstructions that, when executed by one or more computing devices,configure the one or more computing devices to: process a plurality ofmessages from a network device residing in a clinical environment and incommunication with a plurality of infusion pumps residing in theclinical environment, wherein the plurality of messages containinformation about one or more infusion pumps of the plurality ofinfusion pumps residing in the clinical environment; subsequent toprocessing the plurality of messages from the network device, detect oneor more missing messages that should have been received from the networkdevice but have not been received; and cause a message request to begenerated, wherein the message request includes at least one messageidentifier value usable by the network device to request, from the oneor more infusion pumps in the clinical environment, missing informationthat would have been contained in the one or more missing messages and aflag indicating that the message request is for retrieving the one ormore missing messages.
 15. The non-transitory physical computer storageof claim 14, wherein the computer-executable instructions, when executedby the one or more computing devices, further configure the one or morecomputing devices to receive, in response to the message request, one ormore additional messages from the network device, wherein the one ormore messages include information that would have been included in theone or more missing messages.
 16. The non-transitory physical computerstorage of claim 15, wherein the computer-executable instructions, whenexecuted by the one or more computing devices, further configure the oneor more computing devices to cause, based at least on the one or moreadditional messages received in response to the message request, a cacheto be updated to include additional information about the one or moreinfusion pumps residing in the clinical environment.
 17. Thenon-transitory physical computer storage of claim 14, wherein thecomputer-executable instructions, when executed by the one or morecomputing devices, further configure the one or more computing devicesto detect the one or more missing messages based at least on messageidentifier information associated with one or more of the plurality ofmessages.
 18. The non-transitory physical computer storage of claim 14,wherein the computer-executable instructions, when executed by the oneor more computing devices, further configure the one or more computingdevices to detect the one or more missing messages based at least on afirst message in the plurality of messages having a message identifierthat does not immediately follow another message identifier of a secondmessage of the plurality of messages that immediately follows the firstmessage.
 19. The non-transitory physical computer storage of claim 14,wherein the computer-executable instructions, when executed by the oneor more computing devices, further configure the one or more computingdevices to cause the network device to request additional informationfrom the one or more infusion pumps that would have been included in theone or more missing messages.
 20. The non-transitory physical computerstorage of claim 14, wherein the computer-executable instructions, whenexecuted by the one or more computing devices, further configure the oneor more computing devices to cause, in response to determining that theone or more missing messages has reached a threshold count, the messagerequest to be transmitted to the network device residing in the clinicalenvironment.
 21. The method of claim 1, further comprising storing themessage request including the at least one message identifier value andthe flag in a message queue for transmission to the network device.